Ed Balls: Putting on spray tan for Strictly was titillating

Former shadow chancellor Ed Balls said that he "slowly darkened up" to the shade of "Lanzarote in July" for Strictly Come Dancing but could not rival his fellow contestant Danny Mac.

The former Labour politician, who was voted off the competition last Sunday, said he found his "inner camp" in the contest and said that the spray tan was "titillating".

"I actually found it quite titillating, I mean it was kind of quite cold," he told Good Morning Britain.

"I slowly darkened up, I started with Cornwall in May and I got to Lanzarote in July. But I never went for Danny Mac, Danny Mac goes full on eight hours in the sun Marbella August, but I never quite got there."

Appearing on the programme with his Strictly partner Katya Jones, he said the BBC contest brought out his "inner camp".

He said: "I think the thing is with Strictly, it's so intense and it's so full on that you can't play an act, you have to be yourself. In the end, people see who you are and they decide."

"People say we knew you're a politician but it's great to find out your a human being as well and that is frustrating as politicians are human beings but people don't always see that," he added.

Ed Balls performing a Gangnam Style Salsa in BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. Credit: BBC

Asked whether he wanted to return to politics, he said: "It's so weird, politics at the moment, everything is so up and down and has been changing so much.

"But if I had spent the last three months thinking this would help me go back to politics, I think everybody would have seen that."

Asked whether he would consider challenging Jeremy Corbyn for leadership of the Labour party, he said: "Look, if I wanted to be leader of the Labour party, would I have played Zoolander last Saturday night?"

But Mr Balls, who is married to Labour MP Yvette Cooper, joked that if things go badly in politics he could get all the MPs to do a "Gangnam Style" dance.

The remaining five Strictly celebrities - Claudia Fragapane, Danny Mac, Judge Rinder, Louise Redknapp and Ore Oduba - will return to the dance floor in the quarter final of the competition on Saturday December 3.