Sergeant quits TV dance show over fears he might win

Former political pundit John Sergeant quit Strictly Come Dancing yesterday, saying the joke was wearing thin.

The 64-year-old ex-BBC political correspondent brushed off suggestions he had been bullied and said he left to avoid a “bloody battle”.

He said there was a real danger he might win and told a press conference at BBC Television Centre in London: “I didn’t want that to happen because it would have been a very bittersweet victory.”

Sergeant, who had come under fire from judges for his clumsy footwork on the dance floor, said he was very grateful to everyone who had voted for him over the last few weeks.

Viewers’ love for Sergeant has kept him in the popular BBC1 show, despite him coming bottom of the score table three weeks in a row with his dance partner Kristina Rihanoff.

BBC1 controller Jay Hunt announced that anyone who had voted for Sergeant and wanted to be reimbursed would be. The BBC’s website has been flooded with comments from “strictly incensed” viewers, angry at his departure.

Ms Hunt said of Sergeant: “He has been an entertaining contestant and is hugely popular. We would have liked him to stay, but we respect his decision to leave.”

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said: “John Sergeant should not bow out. He has become the people’s John Travolta and he should be a fighter, not a quitter.”

Tory leader David Cameron said: “I am devastated. Strictly will not be the same without him. The nation will not have the same spring in its step on a Saturday night.”

Sergeant will end his dancing career with a last waltz on Saturday, saying after that: “I shall return to my rather quiet life.”

He was grilled by Newsnight heavyweight Jeremy Paxman, among others, over the reasons for his departure. In front of a glitzy backdrop, Sergeant defended his move to quit the show.

He said: “The reasons for leaving? Well, it is like when do you leave a party? You leave before the fighting starts. If the joke wears thin, if people begin to take things very seriously and if people are getting so wound up that it is very difficult to carry on the joke, then it is time to go.”

Sergeant had planned his next routine to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder On The Dance Floor. “It ended up with me firing imaginary bullets at the judges,” he said. “It would have amused me, and maybe lots of people in the audience, but some people would say: ‘Here we go – not more John Sergeant ruining a marvellous dancing competition’.”

He also addressed criticism from judge Arlene Phillips that instead of rehearsing he just “sits and reads the Guardian”.

He said he had to keep up with the economic crisis and US election news.

When asked if she felt responsible for his departure, Ms Phillips said: “Not really. If you look back, we’ve actually been quite nice to him on this programme.”

Strictly’s head judge Len Goodman said he would have stayed in the contest if he had been Sergeant.

He added: “If it had been me I would have stayed in and just had a good laugh about it all.”

The show’s host, Bruce Forsyth, said he felt sad for Sergeant.

He told the BBC: “He looks at all the other dancers and he knows they’re better dancers than him.”