After landing the job on Strictly in 2014 when Sir Bruce Forsyth left, the mother-of-three said of her TV and radio commitments, she would “make it work”.
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Mr Balls has said his Labour politician wife Yvette Cooper had advised him against doing the Rhumba because it would be “appalling”. I have big scars on my back that I don’t know if I’m going to have the guts enough to show or if I’m going to cover them up, we will see where my power comes from.
Irish presenter Laura’s Strictly partner, Italian dancer Giovanni, has just come out of a relationship with Georgia May Foote – with the actress having recently announced their split on Twitter.
More than 10 million people tuned in to launch night of Strictly Come Dancing 2016 on BBC1 on Saturday, the biggest audience yet for a series debut and an average 600,000 more than a year ago.
Model Lowe is with Skorjanec, who won Strictly with model Abbey Clancy in 2013.
Mr Balls, who humiliatingly lost his seat at the general election a year ago, has previously said the decision to go on Strictly was part of his “mid life crisis”. He will be joined by Craig Revel-Horwood, Bruno Tonioli and Darcey Bussell as they cast their judgement over this year’s crop of celeb contestants.
The 14th series of the ballroom dancing show, which beat The X Factor in the ratings previous year, officially goes live in three weeks.
Meanwhile, ratings for ITV’s The X Factor improved from last weekend, when its series opener got an average audience of 6.8 million – its lowest for an opening show in 10 years.
BBC bosses are investigating after the Strictly Come Dancing launch show was marred by sound issues.
Saturday night’s third X Factor episode was beaten by Strictly, although the rivals show were not broadcast at the same time.
The X Factor was watched by 8.3 million viewers (39%) and peaked with 9.2 million – adding another 1.5 million viewers from the same episode last week.
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Reviewing his debut on the BBC Andrew Marr Show, Balls admitted that the black tie outfit he was poured into during the episode made him “look like the guy who’s about to serve the drinks”.
