Kelly Monaco Reflects on Her Dancing With the Stars Season 1 Wardrobe Malfunction 20 Years Later tram

Kelly Monaco stole the hearts of Dancing With the Stars season 1 viewers, and not just by her consistent improvement week after week — a wardrobe malfunction during a performance ended up gaining her more fans for an unexpected reason.

The General Hospital actress opened up about her time on the inaugural season of Dancing With the Stars in an oral history of the show by Entertainment Weekly for its 20th anniversary.

On the fourth week of season 1, Monaco's skirt started falling apart during her number with dance partner Alec Mazo, but she managed to keep her composure for the sake of a good score.

"I felt like someone had a laser beam from five miles away and shot my costume. It was a countdown to going live, 'Five, four, three, pop!' I was like, 'What am I supposed to do?' And then, 'Two, one, pop!' " she recalled. "I know I get at least five counts of a walk over to Alec, walking toward him for our dance. But I remember looking at the judges, looking at whoever like, 'Is there a stop button? Okay, there's nothing. I just have to go through it.' "

Though it was an uncomfortable situation for Monaco to be in, she reveals she took it in stride and gave it her all. "I don't think I felt more confident in any dance," she added. "I was able to persevere and get through the dance with a standing ovation."

The actress managed to finish the performance, but the judges did notice Monaco trying to work with her dress. Judge Carrie Ann Inaba pointed it out during the panel; in the oral history, she recalled, "I'm like, 'Great job. You kept going.' It was magical because it was the first time she got out of her head."

Monaco explained that the wardrobe malfunction was the "turnaround of my experience with dance and the show and the audience" because "after that, the audience related to me." She earned a 26 out of 30 points for her performance that night.

She also noted that she struggled with being conflated with her General Hospital character, Sam McCall, but doing well on Dancing With the Stars allowed viewers to see her outside of her role.

"I had only been known as this villain and was only called by my soap name in public," Monaco added. "This gave the audience a chance to see the real me in a circumstance where you can either fall flat or rise above."