Ed Balls has opened up about why he turned down the offer of a spot on ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!’ and opted to give ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ a go instead.
The ex-MP was the surprise hit of the 2016 series - though perhaps not always for the right reasons… - and he’s now revealed that things could have been a whole lot different. Well, if he didn’t have a phobia of rats.
Ed opened up about his decision while speaking at the Hay Literature Festival this weekend.
He told the audience (via Digital Spy): “My dad’s a scientist, and when I was three [years old] in his lab at the University of East Anglia, I put my finger into a cage and got bitten by a rat.
“And ever since then, a morbid fear of rats has ruled out any reality TV show with rodents.”
Quite frankly, we’re delighted with his choice.
Can you imagine a world without Ed doing ‘Gangnam Style’? A world where Katya Jones wasn’t nearly dropped in one of the most dodgy lifts in ‘Strictly’ history? No, us neither.
‘Strictly’ will be back this summer and it’s not just celebrity contestants that bosses have had to recruit, as they also faced the tough task of replacing head judge Len Goodman.
While the identities of the celebs who will be getting their dancing shoes is yet to be revealed, the BBC recently confirmed that Shirley Ballas has joined the judging panel, giving it an equal gender balance for the first time in the show’s history.