The woman who chooses celebrities to appear on Strictly Come Dancing has revealed how she persuaded Ed Balls to take part – and said his success might encourage contestants from “a wider range of worlds” such as the clergy or even royalty to dance on the show.
Vinnie Shergill first noticed Balls’s ease in front of the cameras at prime minister’s questions. “I thought to myself: here’s a man who loves the limelight,” she said. She tried and failed to get him on the show after he lost his seat in the 2015 general election, but won him over the following year.
Talent producer Shergill spoke to the Guardian as the Strictly finalists – the BBC presenter Ore Oduba, the actor Danny Mac and former pop star Louise Redknapp – prepare for their showdown on Saturday night.
Strictly has enjoyed strong ratings throughout the series, with 10 million tuning in to the semi-final, which saw Oduba top the leaderboard.
But it was Balls – who was voted off by the judges after 10 weeks – who was the surprise hit of the show. His flamboyant “dad” dancing, which left audiences whooping in horror and delight after a particularly enthusiastic rendition of Gangnam Style, provoked groans from the judges, but joy among audiences in the studio and at home.
Balls was persuaded to appear on the show after a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with Shergill in May, during which they talked “a lot about football and costumes”, he said.
The former Labour MP was worried about how he would look, and asked if he could only wear black. Shergill said: “We talked about the cut of the trouser as well, because some of the Latin trousers are quite tight. The men are more conservative.”
Balls said Shergill’s diplomacy, honesty and reassurance won him over. “There was a lot of confidence-building going on,” he said. “It would be fair to say I was lacking in confidence.”
His wife, Yvette Cooper, also helped persuade him. “Yvette said you absolutely have to do it [and that] in 10 years if you look back on your life and you turned down doing that show you’ll always regret it.”
The process of casting begins months before the show starts, and Shergill, who joined Strictly in 2013, advises the contestants throughout the series. “I effectively hold their hand and be their producer through the experience, every single day,” she said. “My phone is never switched off.”
She added: “It’s about trust. I feel very responsible for all the people I cast. I want every single person to have a really positive experience.”
Balls said Shergill helped him to loosen up after an awkward first dance. “I hadn’t committed emotionally … In retrospect I looked like a BBC health and safety executive in my suit,” he said. She also suggested adding a few studs on his collar to add sparkle “and I anguished – it’s ridiculous when you think of it. Two weeks later I had a green face! What happened?”
Shergill said: “Ed was out of his comfort zone but week by week you see that confidence building. I think the reason why Ed was such a success with viewers is, aside from week one, he embraced the experience and threw himself into it. Whether it was doing The Mask or Gangnam Style, he engaged.”
Shergill, who began her career on GMTV and worked on Comic Relief, said casting the show was “like a cocktail”, and “the narrative changes every single year”. She is discreet about who might appear next but agreed that people from a wider variety of professions might now be keen.
“I’d love Prince Harry to do it. I hear he’s a fan, it would be wonderful,” she said.
Balls suggested a clergyman such as the broadcaster the Rev Richard Coles. Shergill said: “I do love him, he’s fantastic. It’s something to think about.”
Shergill said she thought the reason for Strictly’s 14 successful series was that, “unlike the other reality shows where you get the sob story … our viewers want to be enchanted. They want to see someone has worked really hard in the training room to get that particular dance or move right.
“We are not interested in people’s private lives. We don’t do anything contrived or get people to do something they don’t want to do. We are not there to manipulate them at all. We want their experience to be joyful.”
Balls said that while he would not be appearing on any other reality shows having done “the best one”, he might now consider doing more TV “if there was a way to do something that worked”.
