Sergeant's decision to leave 'Strictly Come Dancing' was widely reported and discussed in the press and triggered more than 2,000 complaints to the BBC from viewers who thought the former BBC political editor should have stayed in the competition. There was even speculation at the weekend that Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, could step in and take his place.
The political journalist's final waltz on Saturday attracted 11.7m viewers, higher than previous weeks, but was still beaten by ITV1's 'X Factor'.
Sergeant received a standing ovation from the studio audience following his last dance, but failed to win over the judges who remained seated.
Many people have blamed their criticism of his dancing for his decision to leave the show even though he was very popular with the viewers.
The results show on Sunday saw Jodie Kidd voted off the programme after a dance-off against fellow model Lisa Snowdon.
'Strictly Come Dancing' and 'X Factor' achieved higher ratings than previous weeks and many people may have decided to watch both programmes as they were not scheduled against each other.
'X Factor' featured a performance from 'Take That', who also mentored the contestants during the week, and saw Rachel Hylton voted off the show.
There was controversy when Dannii Minogue was left in tears after having a row with fellow judge Louis Walsh on the live show over the song choices for their contestants.
It emerged that Walsh's group JLS had wanted to sing Take That's 2007 hit 'Rule the World', which Hylton sang on the night.
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