Softly, softly to win strictly title

Christine Bleakley scored a personal best for her waltz on Saturday

Christine Bleakley may be about to upset the Strictly Come Dancing applecart.

For weeks judges Len, Arlene, Craig and Bruno have waxed lyrical about the skills and finesse of Cherie Lunghi, Lisa Snowdon and Rachel Stevens, but Christine has begun her assault on the summit.

After nine weeks of competition, Christine remains the only female contestant not to have faced the dreaded dance-off, a signal of her popularity with the voting public.

Last Saturday, she and her partner Matthew Cutler, waltzed their way to a personal best score of 34 and 4th place on the leaderboard.

You want to be worthy of their votes

Christine Bleakley

"It's nice at this point, obviously, to still be in the competition. Austin, Lisa, Cherie and Tom have always been up there at the top, so we've been tip-toeing around it," said Christine.

"And then we just knock-em for six when they least expect it."

The judges were also knocked for six by Christine's performance.

"Without doubt, your best yet," said Arlene Phillips.

Head Judge Len Goodman said he was surprised by her waltz: "She's under the radar, and suddenly bloomin, blimey - where did she come from?"

Public support

But high scores do not always guarantee your place in the competition.

In the last two weeks three of the bookies' favourites have found themselves in the bottom two, with early favourite Cherie Lunghi leaving on Saturday.

However, Christine has been saved by the public vote every week.

"I cannot tell you what it feels like to walk down the street and have a complete stranger come up and say we were really supporting you on Saturday, well done, we voted for you," she said.

"It's an incredible feeling and it's just lovely to have the support from people right across the country.

"You want to be worthy of their votes, I want to work harder for that very reason."

John Sergeant announced on Wednesday he was leaving the show

This weekend Christine and Matthew will be attempting to master the cha cha cha, a dance that garnered Matthew a near perfect 39 points last year with his partner, and eventual winner, Alesha Dixon.

"I thought the waltz would be a good dance, she picked it up very quickly. I was really proud, she was so soft and she performed it," said Matthew.

"This week we are going to have to work very hard."

Early exit

On Wednesday John Sergeant pulled out of the competition.

Widely seen as the people's champion, he proved to be a thorn in the side of the judges.

The former BBC political correspondent caused a huge furore each week as the public saved him while other celebrities were relegated to the dance-off.

"It was always my intention to have fun on the show and I was hoping to stay in as long as possible. The trouble is that there is now a real danger that I might win the competition," said John.

"Even for me that would be a joke too far."

John and his partner Kristina Rihanoff will perform a farewell dance on Saturday.

Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC One on Saturday night at 1820 GMT.