Ed Balls nearly DROPS Strictly Come Dancing partner Katya Jones in daredevil lift gone awry

ED BALLS found himself in the bottom two again on tonight's Strictly Come Dancing - after nearly dropping partner Katya Jones.

The former Shadow Chancellor performed an American Smooth to Is This The Way to Amarillo? while dressed as a hitchiker with his partner Katya.

However, in one daring lift, Ed almost sent Katya flying after flinging her up on his shoulder and nearly dropping her.

Undeterred, the feisty pair finished the song by doing the lift again - with slightly more success as the crowd cheered them on.

However, despite the pair being praised for the amount of effort they put into their routines, they were once again hounded by the judges for their poor performance.

Bruno Tonioli said: "One thing is for sure - you're never going to join the Royal Ballet! What a titanic effort."

He added: "You just go all over the place like you've read the HitchHikers Guide to Ballroom Backwards."

Craig Revel Horwood referred to the routine as the "antithesis of smooth" before telling them off for doing four lifts instead of the maximum amount of three.

Ed then spoke up after Craig condemned his tricky lift, and said: "It was a good lift! I could do it to you as well if you want!"

Taking the bait, Craig flirted back: "We can do that in the bar afterwards!"

However, despite the banter, Craig only gave Ed and Katya 2 points - resulting in the pair earning only 18 total marks.

Tonight's episode of Strictly was thrown into chaos after Laura Whitmore pulled out of the show just two hours before the show was due to go on the air.

The star announced she would not be on the show via a message on Twitter, revealing she was "absolutely devastated" by the last minute cancellation.

She and partner Giovanni Pernice have been given a 'bye' through to next weeks show, with Strictly bosses wishing her a speedy recovery.

Laura's exit from tonight's show is the second loss to tonight's performance after professional dancer Brendan Cole was also forced to pull out because of ill health.

His dance partner Anastacia danced instead with Gorka 'The Corker' Marquez, who previously appeared on this year's show with Tameka Empson.

Several other professional dancers, including Katya Jones and Anton DuBec, have also fallen ill with a mystery bug, but have been cleared for performing tonight.

Catch the results of tonight's Strictly Come Dancing, tomorrow at 6.30pm on BBC1.

Got a story? email digishowbiz@the-sun.co.uk or call us direct on 0207 782 4220