Josh Hutcherson split his trousers while filming 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'.

The 20-year-old actor - who plays compassionate hero Peeta Mellark in the sequel to 2012's smash success - suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction just as he was about to propose to Jennifer Lawrence's character Katniss Everdeen.

Josh told MTV News: ''I have proposed to Katniss. It was good. Actually, funny story: When we shot it, the actual proposal itself is done where you don't hear what we're saying, so I was just saying gibberish while I was proposing to her on one knee. The very first time I went to get down on one knee my pants ripped right down the crotch.

''The worst thing that could happen when you're proposing to somebody is that your pants rip right down the crotch, and that's what happened to Peeta. So... he's doomed. He's doomed. Poor guy, he just can't catch a break.''

Aside from the hilarity of his trouser-ripping incident, Josh confessed the filming process was very emotional and praised the talented extras who took part in the Reaping scene, where the children of fictional District 12 gather to discover who will be picked at random to battle to the death in the annual Hunger Games.

Josh said: ''The Reaping stuff was really great. The Reaping stuff we did was really powerful, really well written. The extras were so awesome. Like, literally, every extra was a very, very talented actor, and so in the really emotional scenes, all the background really brought their A-game. It really added a lot. That was really cool to see that all come together.''