BBC Strictly Come Dancing star leaves show and will make no further appearances as she 'makes vow'

A BBC Strictly Come Dancing star has left the show and will make no further appearances - making a vow in the process. Dr Punam Krishan and Gorka Marquez, her BBC pro partner, departed on Sunday night after averaging 22 points.

She was the lowest scorer left in the contest and has been stuck near the bottom of the leaderboard and fortunate to escape the dance-off so far. Speaking on Strictly Come Dancing on Sunday night after Tess Daly announced the results, Punam said: "I am really proud of myself. You know I've taken on something that's so out of my comfort zone. The one thing that I've very much learnt is to say yes more, and that there is no point in your life when you can stop learning new skills."

"I've learnt more than dancing, I've learnt so much from Gorka. Everyone's been so incredible and it's just memories that I'll take home forever and I am very proud. I've made my family very proud, I'm just really grateful," she added.

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She also commented on the show: "I think to have one of your dreams genuinely come true is just a surreal feeling. Week after week it's been incredible, I've made friends for life and everyone's just been so kind, so thank you."

Gorka said: "I'm very proud of what she has achieved. [...] She had never danced before and I think she improved week by week. I think she is truly what the show is about, someone who doesn't have experience in the performance world came here and learnt to dance."

He went on and said: "She wanted to do so well and worked so hard. Also I feel very proud and very honoured that we got to do a Bollywood dance, to represent your culture, show your culture to the world and open doors for so many people in your culture."

Punam said: "Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for giving me the gift of dancing. I've never danced before, but you've definitely sparked so much dancing. I want to learn more, and I definitely don't think this will be the end of my journey dancing."

The remaining 10 pairings now pass the contest’s midway mark and move on to the seventh live show - a brand-new themed week celebrating “music icons across the decades”.