Poor old John Sergeant. The hugely likeable and venerable ex-political correspondant must have thought it was a good idea when he signed up to Strictly, but now he finds himself in the middle of a right old storm. He knows he’s rubbish at dancing, we know he’s rubbish at dancing, but that hasn’t stopped him from becoming the nation’s number one, cuddly hearttrob. Trouble is, he’s facing a backlash and it’s mostly from the judges.

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We love a loser in olde GB don’t we? Eddie The Eagle, various British sporting teams over the decades and lots of other people I cant think of at the moment.

The fact is that The Sarge makes people happy. I went home to visit my parents at the weekend and you should have heard my mum laughing her head off when John was dancing. She knows he’s rubbish but he makes her laugh and that feeling has been replicated across the land. Any regular viewer of the show will no doubt feel the same.

Today’s Sun screamed that Bruno is disgusted. He was quoted as saying: “I’m spitting feathers, I’m appalled and disgusted. I don’t understand it. It’s a dancing competition.”

And, of course, he has a point. Better dancers than John (let’s face it, not difficult) will be booted off in favour of The Sarge, and the judge’s do have a reputatiion to uphold. I wonder if the public continually voting in John every week is actually having a bit of an effect on their authority as judges.

As far as I’m concerned John lights up the telly whenever he’s on, and his partnership with the pneumatic Kristina is one of the unlikliest and weirdest you’ll ever see. Makes me laugh, I have to say.

I think John will go in a week or so’s time (as Our Keris predicted), but come on, let him lighten up our lives for a bit. It’s a bleak world out there and he’s providing some laughs. He knows his role and his function, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You compare him with Heather, who went this week. I have nothing against her and she’s a reasonable dancer, but to me she always a little cold and a little distant. John, on the other hand, is full of self-depricating charm and there’s an obvious bond there with Kristina.

Besides, the more the judges try to get him out you might find the public deliberately voting him in. What price John for the final?