The Ed Balls backlash has started. Take a look at this:

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainme...YqY?li=BBoPWjQ

Seems that many viewers are starting to get pretty fed up with decent dancers going and he has caused outrage by saying he won't quit! The bad publicity begins!

Why should he quit? People have voted for him to be there. I wouldn't be surprised if he's topping the public vote.

He's outlasted better dancers, but nobody who has been eliminated was a real contender.
Yet...

The producers will let him go when they want him to go. Not before.

Oh good, another news article based on what two people said on twitter, one of whom is probably the journalist.

To state the bleedin' obvious, that doesn't add up. If by Strictly fans we mean actual voters instead of barrack room judges it is evident that the majority want him to stay. There's no such thing as bad publicity anyway but this kind of hyperbolised nonsense can simply be put to bed with incontorvertible fact.

The producers will let him go when viewers stop voting for him & he ends up in the B2 and gets eliminated in the DO. At the moment he is getting huge media attention (on the front page of today's Sunday Telegraph etc etc etc) and the only thing the beeb like more than ratings, is media coverage! So why would they kill the golden goose?

This ^^^

It could even be said he has a duty to those who spent their money voting for him, to stay until he lands in the dance off, at which point I imagine he'll be out.

There is no reason whatsoever why he should withdraw. (And I'm saying that as someone who wouldn't vote for him to stay.) John Sergeant set a really bad precedent there.

Besides, after Blackpool is the point where the competition starts getting serious, so the "comedy" contestants are usually out after Blackpool anyway.

A similar amount of people on Twitter have admitted to not liking cheese, I hope the prime minister steps in soon to quell this anti-cheese outrage.

It's an entertainment show & as long as the public still find him entertaining, he'll stay in.

He's getting the votes from whoever is voting, no way should he quit. John Sergeant quitting I thought was the nadir of Strictly. Ed will go before the final.

He's probably never been as popular why should he quit.

While I don't enjoy watching him dance one bit and wish he hadn't been on the show at all, he has earned his place up to this point. People can list several examples when the best dancer(s) haven't won, this year may be the same. It is not only a dance show, otherwise the public wouldn't have a vote at all.

I think they might like a shock result against him before he goes - maybe a Claudia v Ore Dance Off at which point the public's 'sense of fair play' kicks in? Considering they've both been in the Dance Off before it should be pretty easy to engineer.

Nobody really good has gone yet. Ed is popular with the public and deserves his chance along with the rest.

Bad publicity?

What bad publicity?

The BBC will be reveling in it. More attention brought to the show. It's on a roll and more people will be watching to see what happens.

It's the same thing to an extent every year.

They must sit round in a pre-production meeting and ask, "Who can we invite who will be a comic figure that the viewers will grow to like and they'll stay in longer than the true dance fans think they should? Someone who will be subject to a lot of publicity in the tabloids"

John Sargent baled out of his own volition and made a song and dance about it, so it got more publicity than if he'd been voted out. He got a lot of TV presenting work out of his stint in Strictly, as he became a much more recognised presenter.

When are you going to get it through your thick skulls that the voting is overseen by an independent adjudicator and neither the judges nor producers has any influence whatsoever on who is in the bottom two once the marking is completed? I am so fricking tired of this ridiculous conspiracy theory!

Some people are mean and hate everyone - but if it was considered a backlash every time someone's nose was put out of joint because they don't like some one on tv and they voiced it on Twitter then literally every show would have these ~backlash articles every other day.

Ed has nothing to apologise for and I hope he doesn't quit. If people want to be awful about it that says more about them than it does him - he makes me smile and he wouldn't make a top ten of worst duffers in the shows history so I really don't see the problem.

If it's reported in the tabloids I expect it will have the complete opposite effect to what the posters want. I might even throw a few votes Ed's way myself if the result will be to upset these idiots even more.

It's called Strictly Come Dancing.

Ed entertains me but if Danny and Ore ended up in a Dance Off then I would start to complain.

Yeah I've seen a few comments on the official Facebook page demanding he does "the decent thing and bows out"

Even though they fail to realise that that WILL deprive someone of a place in the final.

I've just watched all his performances one after the other on YouTube and have just about pi$$ed myself.

But "fair play" is what's keeping him in. He's a true novice and he's entertaining to watch. Why should an Ore v Claudia DO make anyone feel guilty about voting for Ed? There are obviously more proficient dancers in the competition but the only two who display any real personality and heart in their performances are Ed Balls and Judge Rinder, imho.

While I don't think ED should win a part of me would like him to win. The judges faces would be TV GOLD IF HE WON. If he does end up in a dance off he would be gone.

Agree with this. I think Kevin and Louise are like painting (or dancing) by numbers. I wasn't keen on the screaming banshee he was with last year but there was far more personality in their performance than what we have seen this year.