So sorry to see Rachel leave . She was a wonderful contestant with a wonderful attitude . Her dance tonight in the DO was just beautiful and well done to Pasha for choreographing some lovely dances and not going down the time wasting route like a lot of the other pros .

I hadn't much time for Countdown since Voderman left, but Rachel has gained my respect and admiration after seeing her on SCD and I'm sure she has won over a lot more fans .

If we're thinking about the longer competition, then she was likely to go out sooner rather than later. But on Saturday night's show, Dave should have been contesting it with either Rachel or Ben, imo. and going out to either one. Even Sophie or Mark could have found themselves there on those performances, though, if that had happened, I don't think overall Sophie is any worse a dancer as Ben and Fiona and expect the judges wouldn't think she is bad enough to let go over them. They may as well prefer Mark over them too, or at least over Ben. I actually think Dave should have gone, not Rachel.

I think that's putting it kindly. Lovely girl, crap dancer.

well whoever chose their music is partly to blame it was god awful and the singing atrocious, poor Rachel

I think this week's decision was very easy for the judges, as Abbey was better than Rachel. The point is that it was a decision they should not have been faced with as neither couple should've been in the dance off.

I do wonder what difference it would've made if the points from the judges scores were allocated properly, ie so that the lowest marked couple gets one point and so on up the leader board, even in the event of ties up the board? Under the current system, if 12 out of 13 couples tied in first place, the 13th couple would get 12 points from the leaderboard, rather than the 1 point they should.

OTT nonsense, typical of the Rachel bashing here she's not the best dancer but she's still better than several still in.

This week Rachel was unfortunate. There were others worse than her and she deserved better.

True, she was a useless dancer but not as awful as Dave, which is why I am wondering why people are still voting for him?

Fiona was terrible too and Mark - as much as I like him - wasn't that great either.

But people choose to vote for whatever reasons they want and clearly good dancing is not a part of that reasoning - so what can you do?

I disagree! Her and Fiona are equally rubbish but Fiona is older and thus attracts more kindness.

Dave is a bloke and can't just be dragged about by a pro male so his inadequacies are more visible. He is the only person I would describe as worse than Rachel, but again, the public are kinder because it's harder for leads and everyone loves an underdog.

Everyone else is, without question (IMO!) better.

She seems very nice though, lovely last words and the friendship between her and Abbey was adorable. I'm sure Rachel's future is very bright

I hadn't heard of her and I still wont watch countdown, assuming it's still on, but I was really sorry to see her go....

She seemed a really pleasant young woman who embraced the spirit of the show. I really liked her routine this week too.

I always think it's a real shame at around this time in nearly every series where we see the very worst dancers stay in preference to some of those who are about mid way in terms of ability.

That's not saying much, is it? Rachel was still a crap dancer and it isn't a tragedy that she's been voted out.

You enjoy digging the knife in don't you?

No, I'm just not going to be hypocritical or sickly because she was voted off. I liked her but she wasn't a good dancer - what's so controversial about that? Some people on here need to grow up a bit.

The thread is titled 'Sorry Rachel has left', but you feel the need to come on here and comment about her being a 'crap' dancer. Thank you for the reality check oh great one.

So true! I'm not a dancer, but with regard to Susannah I do think the judges are seeing something I'm not because they gush about her every week and I never think she's that brilliant. She is also intensely annoying!

In particular people who bandy about the word 'crap'.

It is worth it just to see the sour faced judges. That is funny. If they really care to disregard entertainment value in an entertainment show and judge overweight middle age men on a level playing field with younger sportsmen (Ben) and slim lithe girls (being led by stronger males partners) using purely technical dancing skills they could probably have placed them all in order at the start of the series.

Len Goodman summed it up the previous week when he said he was tiring of the window dressing parts and he just wanted to see the technical dancing. Well, Len give the BBC their cheque back and spend your time in local ballrooms judging joe public. If they have practiced they will all be better than Dave but not half as entertaining

So sorry to see Rachel go. She was overjoyed that she got some praise from the judges at last. I think in previous weeks they have given her a bashing but have overlooked plenty of faults in others. She and Pasha probably thought she may have turned a corner this week but we'll never know.

Both her and Deborah went too soon. They wouldn't have got to the final 5 but they were both better than some still in and both were lovely people who were enjoying the experience so much.

She's got a lovely bubbly personality and I know she has already got her Countdown and Gadget Show jobs but it would be nice to see her on the BBC in the future.

Even by the average score from the judges Rachel & Pasha are ranked 9th out of 15 couples. That's middle tertile.

Furthermore the judges have blates used a more lenient scale for Fiona & Deborah on the female side and Ben & Patrick on the male side get bonus marks to create the illusion of some competition. So a more realistic assessment perhaps would rank Rachel & Pasha right in the middle or even higher.

So I think 'average' is a fair description in this case.

No, she's not crap. Dave is crap – just a blob wandering shapelessly about the room. Rachel is not a natural dancer and always appeared a bit tense and concentrating on the next move, but she was still watchable.

Crapness is not exclusive.

It is entirely possible for more than one person to be crap.

I am a crap footballer, so is my wife. I am better than her but I am still crap.

So ..... everybody still left in the competition apart from Natalie qualifies as a crap dancer. That doesn't seem to get us very far.

Wow you're harsh! Is say there are about 2 or 3 (if I'm being harsh) crap dancers left. No matter what they look like I won't be surprised if they leave of if one of the dancers better than them does before they go.

It's still a mean spirited and coarse way to express an opinion about someone.

What you choose to say about yourself is your own affair.

She wasn't going to get any better, so I am glad she went out on a high.