Strictly star Ed Balls has admitted he never went “full Marbella” with his spray tan for the dance competition – unlike fellow contestant Danny Mac.

Ed, whose appearances on the hit BBC show saw him win a legion of fans with his snake hips and pony dancing, admitted the tan was “titillating”.

The former shadow chancellor, who exited Strictly last weekend, told Good Morning Britain: “It was quite cold and you go ‘Ah’. I slowly darkened up so I started at like Cornwall in May and I got to Lanzarote in July.

“I never went for Danny Mac that goes full-on Marbella in August.”

He added: “It was quite titillating, do you know what I mean?”

The ex-Labour MP, who appeared to rule out a move back into politics on Wednesday, streamed his first ever tan live on Facebook and called the experience the weirdest thing he had done since getting a “naked Balinese massage” on his honeymoon.

Talking about a touted return to politics, Ed told GMB: “It’s so weird, politics, at the minute – it’s so up and down and everything’s changing so much.

“If I’d spent the last three months thinking this was going to help me go back to politics I think everybody would have seen that and clearly the dances we did that wasn’t what I was about.”

On Wednesday the 49-year-old won a new legion of fans on Loose Women as he attempted to dance with host Janet Street-Porter.

During his appearance on the show, Ed also revealed he would like take part in more reality television.