Real Housewives of Atlanta star Nene Leakes took her talents to the dance floor as she and Tony Dovolani opened the new season of ABC's Dancing With the Stars with a hot cha cha.

DWTS Season 18 Cast Revealed!

The 18th season of Dancing With The Stars opened with a bang. With a whole new cast, new rules forcing partners to switch mid-season, and Erin Andrews as a new host.

Reality star-turned actress- turned DWTS contestant Nene Leakes performed first with a steamy cha-cha to Robin Thicke's Give It 2 U. She and partner Tony Dovolani had great chemistry on the floor, as the highest paid Bravo star showed her best moves in a sparkly ensemble. Leakes gave a good first effort, using her larger than life personality to make her performance shine, but only received a 21/30 from the judges.

"You have this incredibly larger than life personality and it shows in your dancing... Half of dancing is about your personality so you definitely brought that," critiqued judge Carrie Ann Inaba. "You are a big, large, voluptuous, sensual woman. I want you to dance bigger!...To match Tony, I want you to give it all!"

An emotional Leakes took the comments with stride, as Tony held her close for support.

The other judges, Bruno Tonioli and Len Goodman had the same sentiments, commending her for her energy but wanting to see her focus more on her growing her dance technique.

Leakes, who is exclusively blogging every week with E!, was admittedly "nervous" about the performance, but she is working hard to make sure she does not let anyone down.

"I want to step out there and do the best I can do. If my best takes me all the way then that's great, if it just takes me part of the way, then I'll accept that, too. I just want to know that I gave my best, and Tony's hard work wasn't in vain," she wrote on Monday.

Watch Nene Leakes and the rest of the cast on ABC, Mondays at 8/7c. If you missed the performance, watch below!

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