Eric Roberts Is 'Petrified' of Making a Mistake on 'DWTS' But Is So 'Grateful' for Partner Britt Stewart: 'I Have a Great Teacher'

Though Eric Roberts might not have the most dance experience, he's still excited to be on Season 33 of Dancing With the Stars, which premieres on Tuesday, September 17.

"This is a whole new world for me. I am not the best dancer, but I have a great teacher," the legendary actor, 68, who is partnered with Britt Stewart, exclusively tells OK! ahead of the premiere. "She's been really good to me and really patient. She's nice to me every day! I've been learning — but I am not graceful we've discovered. It's been a lot of work, but it's been really fun because she's my fearless leader."

Stewart, 34, who is the president of the non-profit Share the Movement, adds: "I can confirm he's not the most graceful, but we knew this. We knew coming into this process that Eric doesn't have any experience with dance, but my job is to not make him a dancer but to show him how to dance. I try to keep telling him that it's more about the journey and the experience. It's not about getting the perfect score and becoming a dancer. There's some people in the competition that have been dancing their entire lives, and that's something we don't have, but we don't need to have."

19 years ago the Final Analysis star was offered the show, but since he was in China making a movie, it wasn't possible for him to leave. "There was a one day overlap with the schedule and with Dancing With the Stars, and they would not let me go, but it's a good thing because I'm here now!" Roberts, who is married to Eliza Garrett, shares. "I'm just thrilled and so glad they wanted me back. I love being able to do this for my wife and my granddaughters. They love it!"

Prior to the competition, Roberts, whose daughter is Emma Roberts and sister is Julia Roberts, admits he doesn't "expect to take home the mirrorball trophy, but if I do, I'll be happy."

"I don't expect it just so everybody knows!" he continues. "But we're always hoping for miracles!"

The pair, who are working on learning the Cha-Cha and the Waltz, have come so far in a little amount of time, but Eric confesses it's not a walk in the park. "We've had five rehearsals — the past two were good, but the other three were embarrassingly bad," he says. "I now have to dance with more style. I don't know how to be cool yet. I watch her and I'm looking at all the cool little things she does — I want to do that! It's so much fun, but it's so hard. I had no idea how hard it was going to be — they make it look so easy!"

For the brunette babe, being with Eric is the "most rewarding" job, even if he has limited knowledge about the dancing world. "You might think it's easier to teach someone who has no dance experience, but I also have no time, which makes it difficult. But it's also hard if you have a dancer because then the expectation for them is super high."

One person who is keeping Eric honest is his wife, who is also his manager. "She's very honest. I said, 'I can't dance.' She said, 'You're getting better!' This is hard. You can't just learn the moves, you have to think about the timing and timing changes. This is something I've never done, and it has me frightened. It makes me very nervous, but it also has me wonderfully excited because Britt is so sweet, kind and intelligent," he gushes.

"I'm so grateful he's my partner. We really get along," Britt adds. "I have a partner that wants to be here and wants to work hard."

On this season of the ABC series, fans will get to see Tori Spelling, Anna Delvey, Eric Roberts, Brooks Nader, Reginald VelJohnson, Dwight Howard and more attempt to win the mirrorball trophy.

"Everyone brings a little something different," Britt says of the cast. "It's a hard season, too! There's two Olympians and some big people this year. Everybody is a threat or a competitor, but at the end of the day, we're just going to do what we do."

Additionally, Eric is gearing up for a busy week with DWTS, but his new memoir, Runaway Train: or, The Story of My Life So Far, is also releasing on premiere day.

"I am so bothered that I didn't do Dancing With the Stars before I wrote the memoir so it could be a chapter in the memoir," he quips.

One of the reasons Eric wanted to release the tome was people pressuring him to put pen to paper. "Everybody asked, 'When are you going to write a book?' Then my wife kind of talked me into it. She said, 'I know this story and this story, and I would love to read those in a book.' She charmed me into writing it," he says. "Then we made a deal with the publisher, so I couldn't back out. That's how it came about. It was my wife's drive and fear of somebody else doing it first, so I did it."

The book, which pulls no punches about the ups and downs of his Hollywood career, says it was tough to recall different memories. "It's kind of cathartic but also frightening because people judge you by your biographies. But we'll just wait and see," he states. "I didn't want to want to be like, 'Early childhood was tough, he overcame it, did this movie and became a big hit and now he's happy.' I thought, 'That's not real life. That's what a movie is like.' Life is always changing, so I tried to stay very simply matter of fact and honest."

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Dancing With the Stars Season 33 premieres on ABC and Disney+ Tuesday, September 17.

Eric's memoir Runaway Train: Or, The Story of My Life So Far releases on September 17.