Ed Sheeran is rooting for Rose Ayling-Ellis on Strictly after perfect Halloween tango

Musician didn’t realise he’d written ‘the perfect tango song’ until seeing the EastEnders star dance to it with her partner, Giovanni Pernice

Ed Sheeran has revealed he’s rooting for EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis to win this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.

The British musician, who just released a new album, = (Equals), appeared on BBC Breakfast where he was asked about the celebrity dance competition.

Ayling-Ellis and her professional dance partner Giovanni Pernice made history last weekend after scoring a perfect 40 in week six for their Halloween-themed tango, which they performed to Sheeran’s single “Shivers”.

It is the earliest week that a top score has been achieved on the show.

Asked on BBC Breakfast if he knew he had “written the perfect tango song”, Sheeran told hosts Dan Walker and Sally Nugent: “No... whenever I have people dance to my songs on Strictly it's usually ‘Thinking Out Loud’ or ‘Perfect’, so it was actually a really nice thing to... it was a really pleasant surprise and I thought she did wonderfully and I think she's going to win.”

On the night of the couple’s performance, Sheeran surprised the pair with a video message that thanked them for dancing to his song.

“I hope you have a wonderful rest of the season, I hope you win and I'm really honoured that you're dancing to it. Have a great day, lots of love,” he said.

On BBC Breakfast, Sheeran revealed he learnt to dance for the music video to “Thinking Out Loud”, and called it a “really difficult skill to master”.

(BBC/Guy Levy)

“It’s not just about getting the moves right, it's about your facial expression... and she's just absolutely nailing it, really, really nailing it,” he said.

Sheeran is on track to dominate both this week’s singles and album charts in the UK, with a No 1 album and three singles in the top 10. According to Official Charts, Sheeran’s new song “Overpass Graffiti” looks set to become his latest No 1 single, while previous No 1s “Shivers” and “Bad Habits” are at No 2 and No 5, respectively.

In another recent interview, he said he was “more careful” about cameos in TV shows and films after a backlash to his appearance in season seven of Game of Thrones.

Read The Independent’s review of his new album here.

Strictly Come Dancingcontinues each weekend on BBC One.