Former Leeds MP Ed Balls to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for Red Nose Day with Countryfile's Anita Rani and Love Island’s Dani Dyer

Ed Balls after his defeat on election night in 2015. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe.

Former shadow chancellor and MP for Morley and Outwood, Ed Balls, will join a band of nine celebrities to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for Red Nose Day.

Mr Balls was one of Leeds’s foremost political figures until voters elected Tory Andrea Jenkyns to serve the constituency in the 2015 General Election.

Now he will join Countryfile star Anita Rani and Love Island’s Dani Dyer as they seek to conquer the 19,000ft mountain for the annual fundraiser.

Speaking to Hello! magazine the BBC presenter and radio host Rani said she had never experienced “that kind of pressure” or “endurance test” before. The Bradford-born broadcaster said: “I think I’m quite adventurous.

“I love mountains, but I’ve never done anything like this. Kilimanjaro is quite a feat.

“That kind of pressure and endurance test I’ve never done. The last endurance test I did was probably Strictly,” she added.

The ascent will be filmed for a one-hour documentary to air on BBC One for Comic Relief.

Rani also revealed she intends to take a bottle of chilli sauce on her expedition to make the camp food more palatable.

She said: “I don’t know what we’re going to get fed on that mountain, but everything tastes better with chilli sauce right?

“So that’s on my rider.”

Meanwhile Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly will be joined by Mary Berry, Jamie Oliver and the cast of Strictly Come Dancing when they take on a 24-hour dance challenge for Comic Relief.

Red Nose Day will return on March 15.