[Red Moon]

Strictly Come Dancing: BBC message board closed as fans revolt over John Sergeant

The BBC is facing one of the biggest revolts in its history over John Sergeant's decision to quit Strictly Come Dancing with 170,000 messages on its website.

It outstrips comments left following controversies such as the Baby P child cruelty case, the Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand phone call fiasco and even the terror attacks of 7/7.

More than 2,300 people have complained to the corporation about the former political correspondent's departure with tens of thousands posting angry messages on the programme's website.

Hundreds have threatened to boycott the show with some claiming they will watch Xfactor on ITV instead.

The corporation was forced to close its Strictly Come Dancing message board for 11 hours after becoming overwhelmed by the number of complaints it had received.

"In my experience this is the most comments we've ever had on a topic," wrote Tom Van Aardt, the BBC's communities editor, who made the decision to shut the site.

"Forget about Brand/Ross, Baby P, the London bombings or even 9/11! We're still going through the stats, but at the time of writing [3pm on Thursday] there were almost 170,000 messages on the Strictly board."

Viewers accused the BBC of bullying the 64-year-old off the show as they called on the judges to be sacked.

"Judges you should all hang your head in shame. You have all bullied John throughout the series," wrote one.

"You ask the public to vote for their favourite and we do. Just because that isn't necessarily the best dancer doesn't mean we are wrong."

Another said: "The judges and James should be sacked for this blatant bullying. Clearly if they can't get their own way with the public, then they'll bully the poor guy till he can't take any more.

Some viewers said they would no longer vote in the series, while others threatened to watch X Factor on ITV instead.

"John is a gentleman and has done nothing to deserve such treatment," said one. "It has soured this competition now and I will not vote for anyone else."

Sergeant quit the show after fearing he may actually win the Strictly Come Dancing title as viewers continued to vote for him despite a series of dismal performances.

The shows judges were highly critical of his dancing and insisted the viewers refusal to vote him off the programme made a mockery of the format.

The BBC has said it will refund all those who phoned in to vote for Sergeant on the show last week.

William Hill, the bookmaker, has promised to refund all bets if Sergeant sticks with his plan not to return as a contestant on Saturday night.

Source: Daily Telegraph