I'm very disappointed that John was forced to leave as he was obviously touched by all those nasty comments.
He didn't deserve that treatment at all
He's such a gentleman, he never reacted badly to the judges' words and also made a lots of effort and improved a lot.
Please John don't leave !

francesca, london,

I've had to explain to my children that for the people on strictly it is not just taking part that is important - you have to be good. What a terrible example to give to children: don't participate unless you are brilliant in the prescribed manner and bullies win.

Clare Turner, Chittlehamholt, England

The Strictly judges were within their brief to mark and remark, but not to bully a contestant into resignation. They have also bullied the viewing and voting public. They have frankly become too big for their boots. Is this another editorial misfire? Could it have been avoided by early intervention?

John, Biggleswade, United Kingdom

I hope the carping judges and commentators are happy now that John has quit the show. These people have missed the point about SCD which is that it is a vehicle for raising money for charity. The net effect will be less money raised for Children in Need, the charity that SCD supports.

Colin Washbrook, Rochester,

Would that it were a competition. One of the comedy highlights of the past was watching the formation teams on Come Dancing send themselves up.
Now Mr Sergeant, white, old, fat, male and straight, is there to carry the flag of comedy. Keep voting for him!

Dave, Slough,

This is (very) light entertainment, pure and simple. The BBC had a 'proper' dancing contest which they scrapped because it was not sufficiently entertaining. Sargent is the antidote to the vacuuous celebrity culture which has reduced much of television to the will of the baying mob. I hope he wins.

john, Oxford, England

I thought Eddie the Eagle was one of our best skiers. How did he get in the Olympics?

David, Bromley,

Stuff the judges, Sergeant is a star and deserves our vote. This show is entertainment ,not professional dancing.

iain rae, tunbridge wells, t.w.

People don't take kindly to being told who to vote for. That's why this year it snowballed. If the judges knew their place, the public wouldn't be so keen to overrule them. Instead they're too full of their own self importance - it's not like they're going to save the world or something!

Andrew W, Fareham,

Oh come on, get a life. It isn't democracy in action; it isn't a competition to find the best dancer; it's a TV show.

William, Ilkley,

What a curious first sentence. In the UK it is perfectly possible to win an election without a majority of the votes cast, or to become prime minister without any public mandate at all.

Jan, Sussex, UK

One must ask, why did the BBC invite John to participate in SCD if they knew he couldn't dance? I assume the BBC held auditions.
The BBC must have invited him as an object of ridicule. Well it has backfired!
If reports that the rules are to be changed are true, then the BBC will have killed of SCD

James, Poole, UK

Ordinary people are clamouring to put two fingers up to celebrity culture and the PC establishment, all of which despises them. This is a simple, comic way of doing so. Expect a lot more, and in time for it to get serious.

steve moxon, sheffield,

Its great to see personality and Britishness shining through, no matter how much the ego of the stuffy panel gets battered.

If the competition was just about dancing, it would just be professional dancers being judged by a professional panel. Perhaps the panel forgets who is 'Paying the Piper'?

Mike Hart, London, England

If the public want to vote for the girl with the prettiest dress, who are you, or I, to say they are wrong? To claim that it is a competition and should be played by the rules is to miss the point that it is light entertainment. It is meant to entertain, not to inform our moral compass.

Martin, Portsmouth,

And Sergeant still gets my vote...

Brian Lovett, Hastings,

"And even if Strictly Come Dancing were just entertainment - which it is not..."

Re-read that back to yourself a few times, you're losing perspective here. It is exactly "just entertainment".

Tim , London, UK