Ed Balls has said he is relishing the chance to be doing something that “makes people smile” as he embarks on the Strictly Come Dancing live tour.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the 30-date tour, which kicks off in Birmingham on January 20.
The former Labour MP, who became a fan favourite during his time on the BBC One dancing show, said he hopes his return to the dance floor will bring joy to those in the audience.
He told the Press Association: “I reckon in life you’ve sometimes got to embrace new things and this is certainly new for me. But it’s been great fun.
“In politics, you do tough things and sometimes make very hard decisions, but I’m having a time at the moment where I can do things that make people smile.
“And maybe after the last year, where there’s been a lot of division and disappointment and problems in the world, maybe it’s good to let people smile a bit and hopefully they’re going to smile on the tour.”
Ed will waltz across the country with other returning Strictly favourites including last year’s winner, sports presenter Ore Oduba, Birds Of A Feather star Lesley Joseph, former Eternal singer Louise Redknapp, soap star Danny Mac and model Daisy Lowe.
Former Strictly semi-finalist Anita Rani is the new tour host and she will be joined on the road by the judging panel of Len Goodman and Craig Revel Horwood – who also acts as the tour’s director – and former Strictly pro Karen Hardy.
Len stepped down as head judge of the television show at the end of 2016.
Television star and barrister Judge Rinder will give his Manchester fans a treat as he joins to perform at all of the shows being held at the Manchester Arena, dancing with his partner from the TV series, Oksana Platero.
He will be delighting fans following news that Ed will miss the Manchester performances due to prior commitments.
Dance lovers will be able to see the BBC’s flagship TV show come to life at cities across the country, including Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds and London.
Ore, who beat Louise and Danny to win the Glitterball trophy, said he had been on “cloud nine” ever since winning.
Talking about life as a “champion”, he told the Press Association: “It has been wonderful, I haven’t come off cloud nine since Christmas. I think I’ve found cloud 10 actually because this tour has just made it even better, it’s wonderful.”
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article