I've just read the news!!! Its such a shame that John has felt the need to withdraw. As bad as he was at dancing, the public loved him. I must admit, I enjoyed watching him as you could see that he was enjoying himself immensely.

I understand why he felt the need to withdraw because of the furore it had caused with other good dancers being voted out. I also think the comments made by various people were getting quite nasty and personal and even on Monday's ITT (I think it was), there were snide comments aimed at Kristina (who I think has done a wonderful job with the dances she's created and, having met her on Sunday at Dukinfield, she seems such a lovely, warm, caring person). So I can imagine that they are both finding some of those comments very upsetting.

Sorry to see you go John - you've been so entertaining

And Kristina (if you're reading this - I hope this hasn't put you off coming back next year *hint hint*). You and Brian have lit up the pro dances !!

Yes it does make a sham of the show.

If anything the judges continued complaining in the media are to blame.

I'd like to add to your excellent post by saying that you also need to have a certain amount of previous dance experience that is kept under wraps as far as possible in some instances.

The weeks when the judges expressed such amazement at Cherie's ability, which was just an act on their part given her previous dance experience which they would have been aware of, is an insult to the viewer.

I can't believe John has done this. "A Joke too far even for him" He would never have won, this happens every year that the public keep the crap dancers. It's made a sham of the show because he would have gone anyway and now the winner will never be sure if they really won it!

X-Factor is soundly beating SCD in the ratings this year.

After this sham perhaps even more viewers will make the switch.

Well if its down to the last three and the judges have their way like last year think you can guarantee the likes of Rachel, Christine or Jodie will be on very shakey ground if they are in the final three and havent got top marks from the public because if they are in the mix with the likes of Tom, Austin or Lisa they have no chance of being voted in by the judges who as far as I am concerned will stick to their favourites.

Hear hear. To quote one Jan Ravens to the judges "I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY NOW!" (those capitals are Ms Ravens' not mine, of course)

It does make a mockery of the show. What's the point of allowing the public to vote when they are then berated by the judges simply because they follow Tess's demand to vote for their favourite contestant?

I really dont think so - Lisa as an absolute outsider but mark my words - Austin or Tom will win this and i have thought it from the very start.

I was certainly not a fan of John Sergeant so I am kind of glad that he's decided to quit, but at the same time annoyed at the reason he gave. To me, he came across extremely smug and arrogant by saying 'The trouble is that there is now a real danger that I might win the competition.' But that is just my take on it.

And for those that say he gave a surprise every week and without him in it, it will be predictable, that's a bit rubbish isn't it? There's no surprise in John coming out, not dancing particularly well, getting bad marks/comments and then saying about how its the public that decide and that's the rules of the show. HE was getting predictable.

Looking at the rest of those still in it, they give the surprises every week. Firstly, Rachel - her rumba was amazing! I never would have thought she'd be top of the leaderboard after previous performances, but she really pulled it out the bag on Saturday. Likewise, Jodie, she is improving and I love her for that. She gives it her all, takes on board criticism and makes the show a joy to watch.

So, in all, glad that John has gone, although I would have preferred it if it had been through public (non) vote i.e. being in the bottom two next Saturday, but we can't have everything we want. Can Cherie come back now to make up the numbers?

stargater my theory IMHO is that JOhn gave a weak reason for pulling out but not out of smugness. after all, he couldn't be seen to criticise anyone. (could he...?). I'm not sure anyone ever believed he would win - though he may have made the final

what made a sham of the show for me was people voting for John just to annoy the judges or when they didn't even watch the programme

I agree completely welwynrose, voting someone in to annoy a judging panel is totally ridiculous. They say vote for your favourite, but the amount a contestant annoys the judges is not, in my opinion, a good criterion of making them a favourite.

I'm not saying that it should be based solely on performance of the night, otherwise, weaker contestants at the start would have gone before they shone. Gethin from last year comes to mind immediately.

So yes, vote for you're favourite, that's the point of the public vote, but do it because they entertain YOU (directly?), not in an indirect sort of way, as in through annoying someone else. Apologies for not explaining myself well here.

I heard on the radio this morning that next year any contestant who is in last position after the judges vote for 3 weeks in a row will be automaticaly eliminated. This will ensure the 'Segeant Situation'does not reoccur.
Incidentally, I don't think that the phone lines are raising money for charity this year, are they? So to suggest that by letting John walk, Children in Need will lose revenue, is not valid

People were voting for john because the british public love an underdog.

The producers should take the blame too. Each year they put somebody in that obviously has no business being there, Jimmy Tarbuck or John Sergeant. You could tell before it started that with some of the dances they would struggle. So why include them?

I totally agree with this. Better to let it run its course... any way, would it have been so bad if JS won. Maybe the general feeling was changing... people getting fed up of perfectly honed bodies/poor dancers and wanted to see a sort of beauty and the beast kind of win.

He's between rock and a hard place really. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

On another thread last night I called it 6th series malaise.

Strictly is an entertainment show based around dance and more specifically on amateurs learning to ballroom dance. If we give up on the idea that the show is at it's core about "learning to dance"....the whole thing becomes well... pointless.

The public vote does not mean that SCD isn’t a dance competition…it just means that the criteria of the competition isn’t entirely related to technique but also encompasses entertainment and the improvement journey.

Sorry, it's just I'm a recovered BB addict and watched with dissappointment as the format of my fav show was slowly flayed to meet the agenda of the tabloids. It became a contrived, controversy led, money making hyped up travesty of the original programme.

There has been a "John" in every series...and they have all had the same comments from the judges and similar support from the public....all have come and gone at some stage.

The current "John situation" is largely a creation of the media circus surrounding the show at present.....I think the coverage of the "scandal" is quite frankly ridiculous. There is nothing wrong with the core format of the show - and faffing around with it will only make matters worse.

Of course it's just a telly programme but if there are lessons to be learned it's more about the overhype and the spin off shows responding to an agenda set by silly tabloid speculation - or perhaps a lazy over reliance on grabbing silly topics from places like this (It makes them feel like they're responding to their audience......it's like the tv version of New Labour think tanks and what a success they were when it came to setting policy agendas LOL)

It killed off BB and it's the sad foundation of Xfactor.

Strictly doesn't need to follow suit....it was and is popular enough in it's own terms.