Unlikely Strictly Come Dancing star Ed Balls tops the viewer vote despite flailing footwork

DANCING dud Ed Balls has topped the Strictly Come Dancing viewer vote, a show insider has let slip.

The former politician's flailing footwork and dodgy dancemoves has seen him regularly land at the bottom of the judges’ score leaderboard for the last seven weeks.

3

But the 49-year-old has always avoided the bottom two thanks to the combined viewers’ vote, which is kept top secret and never revealed.

However a source told how a well placed individual at the BBC had let slip that Ed and his pro partner Katya was currently polling ahead of his ballroom rivals.

An insider said: “They were laughing to a group of people, who were grilling them about the show, that Ed was so popular he was getting the most votes recently.

3

“They said they knew he’d get support as traditionally they’ve always loved a novelty act but this was surprising everyone.

“If it continues he’ll be staying out of the dance-off for a while - and probably at the expense of celebrities with a much higher standard of dancing.”

Ed’s moves has been dubbed the “antithesis of smooth” by snarky judge Craig Revel Horwood who gave his gaffe plagued American Smooth routine a lowly score of just two points.

Despite this, the ex-shadow Chancellor is as popular with the viewers as Glitterball Trophy favourites Danny Mac and Ore Oduba.

RELATED STORIES

BYE BYE BALLS?

Ed Balls' improved Quickstep STILL sees him bottom of the Strictly Come Dancing table

Ed banger

Bungling Ed Balls dropped Katya Jones on her head during Strictly Come Dancing rehearsals

HE'S GOT BALLS

All you need to know about ex-Labour MP and TV star Ed Balls

DIZZY rascal

Susanna Reid looks TERRIFIED as Ed Balls throws her around in GMB studio after his Strictly lift 'catastrophe'

He has avoided the dance-off ahead of high-scoring routines from Daisy Lowe and Laura Whitmore.

The insider added: “Viewers can work out the sums from the fact the person third on the judges’ leaderboard is ending up in the dance-off and he’s not, that he’s top three in the viewer vote easily.

“But it’s astonishing that some weeks he’s actually been top.

3

“However there’s a feeling that once a really amazing dancer goes at Ed’s expense, viewers might turn on him and get fed up with his comedy routines.

“But currently that hasn’t happened.”

A BBC spokesman said: “The public vote on Strictly Come Dancing is totally confidential. Every year there are speculative claims made about how many votes participants are getting.”