Ed Balls wants to stay on 'Strictly Come Dancing' for at least another month - to lose more weight.
Ed Balls and Katya Jones
The 49-year-old former politician has already lost 14lbs since he started on the ballroom and latin show four weeks ago and now he's hoping that he and his professional partner Katya Jones will remain on the programme for at least another six weeks so he can continue to shrink his gut.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz at Daily Mirror newspaper's Pride of Britain Awards in London on Monday (31.10.16), he said: "I'm trimming down, I've got quite a long way to go but there's definitely some progress, I need to be there for another month.
"Eight hours of training a day and if I get it wrong she tells me to do it again, do it again."
Although his main objective is to lose weight, Ed has admitted that he's thoroughly enjoying learning new steps and he feels "very lucky" to be partnered with the talented Katya.
He explained: "We've been performing the characters and I'm just very lucky to have such a brilliant choreographer as well as a dancer. Katya can fit what I do with the dance into the music so well. We take every dance as it comes."
Ed recently admitted that it was his wife Yvette Cooper who urged him to take part in the series because she wanted him to snap into shape.
He said earlier this month: "[Losing weight] is the main reason she thought I should do. She thinks there's at least another stone-and-a-half to go.
"So far, it's probably about a stone, which for six weeks isn't bad. I'm also toning up and changing shape. You can just feel it. It's like doing a marathon everyday."
Meanwhile, the dancing duo appeared to be in high spirits at the event last night as they were joined on the red carpet by their fellow 'Strictly...' stars Laura Whitmore, Daisy Lowe and Ore Oduba.
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