James Denton Says He’s ‘Still Paying’ for Doing Dancing with the Stars in France: ‘My Knees Are Just Destroyed’

James Denton's time on France's version of Dancing with the Stars was fruitful — though it did not come without some lasting aches and pains.

While speaking at a Christmas Con panel moderated by PEOPLE's Breanne L. Heldman, the Good Witch star, 61, opened up about competing in the reality competition with dancing partner Candice Pascal this year.

He told the crowd in Edison, N.J., on Dec. 14 he is “still paying” for his DWTS stint after training and competing “for almost four months."

"It was a huge adventure, but both my knees are just destroyed. I am still trying to recover," he explained. "But it was really fun, and the people were really nice."

Denton added that he had been asked to do DWTS in the past.

"I never would've done the show here because I'm not a dancer. They've asked me to do Dancing with the Stars in France a bunch of times, because Desperate Housewives was huge there, and I've never even considered it," he said, referencing his role as Mike Delfino on the ABC series.

But when the Writers Guild of America went on strike in May 2023, and the Screen Actors Guild followed in July, Denton said he changed his tune.

"They take care of you, and it was a big adventure," he continued.

Still, Denton said the experience scared him, as it was unlike anything he had ever done before. "It terrified me and I knew then that I had to do it," he emphasized. "But it was terrifying. Terrifying!"

The actor also noted that DWTS in France is different because the routines that air live are longer than two minutes, as opposed to the minute-long routines during the United States' broadcast.

As for stage fright when performing, Denton said it isn't something he normally deals with — "because you just accept what happens" — but when he performed live for the first time, he said, "My heart was pounding so hard. I felt like a little kid. It was exciting, but really scary."

Denton stayed in the competition for six weeks. "I just didn't want to be out the first week or two. I wanted to stay around a while," he said.

"In fact, when I got voted off, the host said, 'I've never seen anybody so happy to get voted off,' " Denton continued. "The people that were left were so much better than I was, and I just survived because the fans were really nice and they kept me alive, I think."

"So if I stayed any longer, I would've felt guilty, because they were much better," he added of his fellow competitors.

Denton, who doesn't speak French, learned a particular phrase in France.

"I learned some, but mainly it was just, 'Je suis désolé, mon français est nul' — 'I'm sorry, my French sucks,' " he said.