BEHIND THE SCENES WITH best

‘Getting ta se red was a world of pain !’

Ed Balls, 51, is married to Labour MP Yvette Cooper, 49, and they have three children – Ellie, 19, Joe, 17, and Maddy, 14.

Ed, you don a wrestling leotard in the first episode, don’t you?!

I know where the line is – and I lean right up against it! All the wrestlers were going to wear leotards, so I couldn’t come on in a suit and tie!

Did you feel body-conscious watching those scenes back?

I’ve lost about ¾st since! When we sat down and watched that episode, I did think, ‘Good, God!’ and went carb-free for three months.

What’s your wife Yvette’s reaction to the show?

Yvette is horrified, in a positive way. When I did Strictly, she’d sit in the audience gasping. Dads should be embarrassing, but my kids think I substantially overachieve in that area.

In episode two, you get tasered. What was that like?

Easily the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. Luckily, they didn’t give me much time to reflect upon it. I can’t see that scene without wincing.

There’s a sweet moment where you FaceTime Yvette…

For a long time, we did the same job, so we were used to those conversations where we’d ask each other advice. I’d call her a lot during filming.

Was the very moving Parkland sequence one of those times?

Yes. We spoke to a survivor of the school shooting, and her mother. I thought the most

painful bit would be talking to the teenager who’d been shot, but actually it was her mother – her not knowing what was going on once she’d got the text message. Our three kids go to school every day, and you assume they’ll come home. That was hard.

Could you have imagined making shows like this?

Never! I said to my producer one morning, ‘I’ve not experienced this since

Strictly… when you wake up the next morning and think, “did I really do that?!”’ Travels In Trumpland With Ed Balls begins on BBC Two this Sunday at 9pm.