Comment: the people have been ignored | The Times Thunderer | Bad example for the bullies

The veteran political journalist John Sergeant is to quit TV talent show Strictly Come Dancing because he fears there is a real risk that he could win it.

After a month-long battle with the judges that prompted a national debate on the limits of televisual democracy, Sergeant confirmed his departure this afternoon and explained that he had decided to give up after using his political expertise to analyse the likely behaviour of voters.

But the 64-year-old will not be waltzing away into the footnotes of ballroom dancing history quite yet. Sergeant and his Russian partner, Kristina Rihanoff, are to perform a "farewell dance" on the show this weekend.

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• The public has spoken - and been roundly ignored

• Dance rivals livid, but public love Sergeant

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Sergeant has been ranked last by the judges for the past three weeks, only to be rescued by the public vote each time and see more talented contestants sent home. He has also been roundly insulted along the way - one judge this week called him "a dancing pig in Cuban heels".

The fans have been with him every leaden-footed step, however, among them Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, who admitted that he had been cheering Sergeant on with "a degree of envy".

Sergeant decided today that enough was enough and said that victory would be "a joke too far... a terrifying thought for me and millions of people across the country".

At a bizarre press conference attended by such BBC political heavyweights as Jeremy Paxman, Sergeant said: "I know a little bit about voting and the probem was that there was no viable stop-Sergeant candidate."

Enlisting Paxman's support from the floor, Sergeant explained that the viewers could simply decide not to vote for him and Rihanoff. But if they wanted to vote against him, they would have to start voting tactically - skewing the entire show.

The ousted dancer said he had planned a routine to the Sophie Ellis-Bextor hit 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’.

"The idea that we would carry on doing this week after week - irritating and annoying people and causing controversy - that is not what I’m about and that is not why I wanted to join the show, which is to entertain and give people a good reason to stay in on a Saturday night and not spend too much money."

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