Christine dances off 'Strictly'

Over 11 weeks the celebrity contestants have now been whittled down from 16 to four

After evading the dreaded dance off for 10 weeks, Christine Bleakley became the 12th celebrity to dance their way off Strictly Come Dancing on Sunday.

The television presenter was bottom of the leader board with 58 points, out of a possible 80, after dancing a tango and a salsa on Saturday night.

After receiving a low score for her tango, Christine said she had prepared herself for the worst.

"I always assume we're going to be in the dance off so we're ready for it if it happens. I just hope it doesn't."

The 28-year-old found herself in a dance-off with singer Rachel Stevens after the show's public vote. All four judges voted to save Stevens.

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster on Monday morning, Christine said she was thrilled to have gotten so far in the competition with her professional dance partner Matthew Cutler.

Christine Bleakley bows out of Strictly Come Dancing

"I'm feeling a bit shell shocked, it was a bit of a disappointment but at the same time I never thought I was going to get past week one, so every week was a bit of a bonus for me.

"Matthew and I have been very close over the last couple of months and I'm going to be quite sad not to see him every day," she said.

"I'm honestly just so thrilled to have gotten this far, and I wouldn't have gotten so far without the support of people from home.

"It's been an incredible, crazy three months.

"It's just been fantastic, and I'm just so sorry to have let people down at the same time because I know I had such incredible support, but I hope that they know that I did go out and do my best for them."

Judging Christine

Christine and Matthew came in for quite a lot of criticism after their tango failed to impress the judges.

Craig Revel Horwood said that for week 11 their tango "sadly wasn't good enough", and Arlene Phillips said nerves could no longer be used as an excuse.

"You need to tighten up, harden up. We're at the quarter finals next week, everybody's nervous," she said.

Christine said she let the comments wash over her.

"Arlene is always nasty to me, for whatever reason she does just not like me. Once she sticks the knife in she likes to twist it, but having said that the rest of them were quite nice," she said.

"Len is lovely, he can give you constructive criticism and he does it in a nice way and I can take that on board."

As for who she would like to see lift the glitterball trophy, Christine singled out Holby City actor Tom Chambers.

"He's a really lovely, lovely guy, very genuine, and I'd like to see Tom go all the way."

On her time in Strictly Come Dancing, Christine said she would not have "changed a minute".

"The training was the fun aspect of it, it was tough. Physically, it was tough and trying to remember what I had to do, but I will miss it. It has been the most amazing experience," she said.

Lisa Snowdon, Rachel Stevens, Tom Chambers and Austin Healey will battle it out in the quarter finals this coming Saturday at 1805 GMT on BBC One.