Former Donald Trump aide Sean Spicer makes his Dancing With The Stars debut

Donald Trump’s former press secretary made his Dancing With The Stars debut while performing the salsa wearing a neon green ruffled shirt.

Sean Spicer, a controversial addition to the show due to his links to Mr Trump’s administration, danced with partner Lindsay Arnold to the Spice Girls’ hit Spice Up Your Life.

He opened the performance by banging on a pair of bongos.

Judges awarded the pair a lowly 12 out of 30, placing them near the bottom of all contestants. However, he earned credit for effort.

Judge Bruno Tonioli, who also appears on Strictly Come Dancing, said Spicer’s hips were “set in cement” but the overall performance was “strangely entertaining”.

“There was some element of salsa there, not always on time or on rhythm”, he added.

Former Strictly judge Len Goodman told Spicer: “You brought fun to the ballroom. Well done.”

Spicer worked as the White House press secretary from January 2017 to July of that year and his tenure was marred by controversy.

He infamously claimed the crowd at Mr Trump’s inauguration ceremony in Washington DC was the largest ever for such an event, an assertion that was widely denounced as untrue.

Spicer also regularly clashed with journalists covering Mr Trump’s presidency and often rallied against the “fake news media”.

When it was announced he was appearing in Dancing With The Stars, host Tom Bergeron was among those criticising the move.

He said the show should be a “joyful respite from our exhaustive political climate and free of inevitably divisive bookings from ANY party affiliations”.

Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown, who is also appearing on the current series of the dance show, deleted his Twitter account following a backlash against his support of Spicer.

Brown, billed as the culture expert on Netflix’s makeover show, called Spicer a “really sweet guy”.