‘Strictly Come Dancing’ contestant Laura Whitmore has insisted there was nothing inappropriate going on when Ed Balls sent her a text offering to rub her ankle.
Let’s go back to the beginning, shall we?
So, as ‘Strictly’ fans might recall, a couple of weeks ago Laura was forced to miss a week of live shows when she sustained a serious ankle injury, meaning she was automatically put through that week, as per the rules of the show.
Earlier this week, Laura revealed she’d revealed a cheeky message from Ed Balls, offering to “rub her ankle” while she recuperates, should she need it.
This has been ever so slightly blown out of proportion in certain quarters of the media, with headlines ranging from “Ed Balls Offered To Give Laura An Ankle Rub ‘Any Time’ In Flirty Text” to “Ed Balls Strictly ‘Sexting’ Shock”.
Laura has now set the record straight over the messages, which were sent publicly in a WhatsApp group with all of this year’s contestants, adding that she sent a jokingly flirtatious message to him first.
When the ‘Loose Women’ panel asked whether she felt Ed had been inappropriate in Thursday’s (3 November) show, she insisted: “Not at all! We have this WhatsApp group.
“I don’t know what it’s like other years, but this year we’re so close. If it wasn’t for everyone still in that competition, I wouldn’t be here because you have low points. I’ve never cried so much in my life. I cry all the time. I cry at ads on television. I cry when I can’t do a step. I can’t stop at the moment!
“We all help each other through. We have this WhatsApp group and we talk about everything on it… I saw that one of the magazines has a ‘Column of Lust’, and I saw that he was number three in the ‘Column of Lust’.
“So, I just sent that picture through, and I said, ‘you should have been number one’ but he messaged back - because I was injured at the time - ‘Well, if you ever want me to rub that ankle back to health!’”
Both Laura and Ed will be back on the ‘Strictly’ dance floor this weekend for Saturday night’s (5 November) live show - and let’s just hope the judges are feeling a little bit more generous with their points than they were last week.
