Twitter boffins claim Ed Balls was the ‘most fancied’ male Strictly Come Dancing contestant – giving hope to dad dancers everywhere
The ex Chancellor received the most Emoji winks next to Twitter messages tagged with his name
DANNY Mac might have the moves on this year's Strictly Come Dancing but it is Ed Balls who set hearts racing as the "MOST FANCIED" male contestant.
The former Chancellor's hip-grinding Gangnam Style seemed to be enough to secure a swell of support on social media, with fans hitting the cheeky winking-eye Emoji alongside Twitter posts about the politician more than for any other Strictly star.
Ed, who was partnered with professional Katya Jones but was booted out of the show before this weekend's final, was hailed HTC's Most Fancied Male Contestant thanks to fans' continual use of the icon.
He also beat sports hunk Greg Rutherford and presenter Ore Oduba to the hottie top spot after a huge 233,000 Emoji were tracked for the survey.
His ratings should come as a spot of hope for shape-shuffling single dad dancers looking to score on the dancefloor.
Meanwhile, Ed's status as the show's most popular star was also cemented after his name was mentioned almost 148,000 times on the site.
Ahead of Saturday's showdown, stats showed Danny proved to be the most popular of all the finalists, receiving over 13,322 Emojis throughout the series, compared to fellow competitors Louise Redknapp at just 9,508 and Ore a little higher, with 10,657.
Craig Revel Horwood’s quick wit and sharp remarks helped him beat, Bruno, Len and Darcey to win the title of “Most Entertaining Judge”.
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Ed left his followers devastated after his exit in November.
The fan favourite, 49, found himself in the bottom two dance-off for the first time against Judge Rinder and was then booted out by the judges.
Ed’s hilarious tango failed to woo judges, who caused outrage after admitting they were gunning for him.
After his exit, the defiant ex-Shadow Chancellor said: “I loved doing that tango, that’s the best we have ever done it.
“I’m sad that I’m not going to be doing it next week, but I’m really glad to have been here and made it this far. It’s fabulous.”
Yet by week eight of the show Ed had proved he was the star, with his rendition of Psy’s Gangnam Style being viewed more than 700,000 times online.