Balls leaves Strictly
As a politician Ed Balls started off with a promising career working for Gordon Brown who was Chancellor and then later Prime Minister. Ed Balls became Shadow Chancellor when Ed Miliband headed up the Opposition to David Cameron's Government. Balls became a regular sparring sparring partner with Chancellor George Osborne but Balls political career was cut short because during the 2015 general election he lost his seat while his wife MP Yvette Cooper carried on as a Labour MP. Cooper ran for the Labour leadership when Ed Miliband stepped down but lost out to current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Balls found another job shortly after being dethroned as an MP and became Chairman of Norwich football club. For a while Balls seemed to disappear from the media until this year it was announced he would become a contestant on 'Strictly Come Dancing' and Balls was no stranger to dancing as he was always shown dancing with wife Yvette at Labour party conference after conference dances. He was also despite his rotund size always taking part into parliamentary football matches and seemed be quite the player.
When he was introduced to partner Katya Jones her first time as a pro - dancer on 'Strictly' who would have known this partnership would provide us with hours of entertainment. The pair were constantly marked 23 points all the time by the judges and it seemed Craig Revel Horwood had it in for him from the get go. There was one show where he and Katya did creep off the bottom of the leader board but that was a one off never the less as each show went by and the public kept Ed and Katya in the show Ed seemed to come out of himself and became an improving dancer and actor. For example when he played the part of 'The Mask' in one dance and played South Korean Rapper Psy dancing to Psy's hit 'Gangnam Style'.
Of course there were a few tense moments when Balls nearly dropped Katya has he did a lift and did not seem to be able to sustain it but he kept a grip on her none the less. Balls may have been older and more overweight than fellow competitors Ore Oduba, Danny Mac, and Judge Rinder but despite the barbs of the judges particularly from Craig Revel Horwood the people consistently in their votes kept him and Katya in and as head judge Len Goodman saiid "You are the peoples champion".
But as with all things his partnership with Katya came to an end as he lost the dance off with Judge Rinder and his partner Oksana Platero. Katya has confirmed she loves Ed and enjoyed her time working with him on the show as she fought back tears at the end of last nights 'Strictly' and Ed confirmed he will "Keep dancing" as the motto of the show says.
Strictly facts
1) The show has been running since 2004.
2) Based on old 70's and 80's show 'Come Dancing'.
3) Regularly goes up against ITV1's 'X - Factor' in the ratings war on a Saturday night.
4) Known as 'Strictly' informally.
5) Has inspired countless spin off shows around the world like the American version 'Dancing with the Stars' also hosted by Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli.
6) Claudia Winkleman replaced Bruce Forsyth as co - presenter of the show with Tess Daly when Bruce permanently retired from the show in 2014.
7) Show has spin off show in the week 'It Takes Two' shown on BBC2 presented by Zoe Ball.