John Sergeant has dropped out of Strictly Come Dancing!
Here are the facts:
1. John Sergeant is a former BBC news correspondent. He was the
Downing Street correspondent during the last couple of years of
Margaret Thatcher's prime ministership. He was there at No 10 when
Thatcher resigned.
2. Strictly Come Dancing is another one of the many reality shows.
Most of prime-time TV these days seems to be reality shows.
3. I do not own a TV. (What for? Watch reality shows?) So, I am a
late follower of this story.
4. When he first appeared on the satirical programme "Have I Got
News For You", John Sergeant got himself a reputation as a gentleman
with a nice, dry sense of humour. In fact, it was rumoured he would
host the show at some point.
5. He was paired with expert Russian dancer Kristina Rihanoff. But
despite all her hard work, he was seen by the judges as one of the
worst dancers.
6. The public voted to keep him on several times. They liked him.
7. Things got to a head - and this is how I first found out about this
story - when one of the judges ridiculed Sergeant and said he did
not deserve to keep getting through; she said he was very lazy and
did not train half as much as the others. It was evident that the
judges were worried the public will insist on crowning him winner.
Finally, the latest twist: John Sergeant drops out of the show. At
5pm this evening, this bit of news had taken over the nation's
consciousness!
So, I watched the clip of him explaining why he dropped out. And if
ever I saw why the public adored him, it was now. He represents that
'magical' image of how the British people see themselves:
fair-minded, good-natured and humorous.
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