Vorderman was voted off Saturday's Strictly Come Dancing

The Countdown host damaged a cartilage beside her rib while performing the rumba with partner Paul Killick.

The combination of damning scores from the jury and a low public vote saw Vorderman and Mr Killick lose their place in the BBC One dancing contest.

The show has been a ratings hit, seen by seven million viewers this week.

Strictly Come Dancing is now in its second series and Saturday's audience was almost a million higher than the previous week, according to unofficial overnight figures.

Former winner Natasha Kaplinsky is among the show's presenters

In its final half hour, Strictly Come Dancing proved more popular than Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, with its audience climbing to 7.8m viewers, compared with 6.8m for the ITV1 show at the same time.

Vorderman's agent John Miles said the TV star sensed the injury towards the end of her performance.

"Right at the end, during the finale of our dance, Paul leant me back and I suddenly felt a terrible pain below my shoulder blade on my right side," she told the Daily Mail.

Unable to sleep because of the pain, she went to a medical centre on Sunday morning, where doctors confirmed the torn cartilage.

She was prescribed painkillers and advised to rest.