Oh noooo! John Sergeant - 'the dancing pig' - has pulled out of Strictly after all the criticism of viewers voting to keep him in.
Should he have stayed?
Susiex

Oh no, what a shame! I agree that he should have gone by now, but not like this.

x

Aw, no!! That's sad. I agree the joke had gone a bit far, but he shouldn't have felt pressurised to step down.

It will be interesting to see how the public reacts, and whether people stop voting if they feel their views don't really count - it's as though the show is only after the money from the phone calls rather than taking public opinion seriously.

I'm heartbroken - Saturday nights just won't be the same

We voted for John Sergeant the week before last simply because my little boy always asks me to vote for whoever is at the bottom of the table and gets a mauling from the judges - this week we didn't vote at all because we felt so guilty about it.

What is the point of having the public vote if they don't like the results - and as for all the pretending it is a serious dance show - would any of the contestants really get 9s and 10s if it was?

I think it is a pity that John Sergeant was put in a position where he felt he had to go - do the decent thing - but they don't even ask the public to vote for the best dancers - it is 'vote to save your favourite couple.'

It's all got very nasty and spoiled the show for me - the children are all upset too. Now we'll have to watch the x factor and it doesn't fit round Merlin.

What next - vote off Uther because he's such a bastard and threatens to have someone executed every week?

Sarah

I think if amateur 'celebs' who haven't danced before are working their butts off to perfect their moves and then someone with two left feet doesn't even get in the bottom two then the whole thing's a joke. I agree with that woman judge who says it's a dance competition and they were hired to judge the dancing. I'd be bloody annoyed if he beat me just because he made the viewers laugh and I knew I was ten times better than him. I hate that programme anyway - I suspect that most people who watch it are white and over 60 and they don't take kindly to black people who go on the programme. Most of the black competitors get voted off right away from the shows I've seen.

I guess it will affect the final - because now they're one pair down?
I think they should give John and Kristina a special spot each week, where they dance purely for our entertainment.
Susiex

<Added>

Unbelievable - I've just read that a 'news conference' has been called, with Jeremy Paxman interviewing JS and various BBC high-ups involved! Could this beat the Woss/Brand fiasco?!?