Carol Kirkwood 'sad and relieved' to be leaving Strictly Come Dancing

Carol Kirkwood has said she is both sad and relieved to be leaving Strictly Come Dancing after she became the sixth contestant to be eliminated from the show.

The 53-year-old TV weather presenter and her professional partner, Pasha Kovalev, were left at the bottom of the leaderboard on Saturday night and lost out to EastEnders star Kellie Bright and her partner, Kevin Clifton, in the dance-off.

Asked whether she felt sad or relieved to be leaving the show, Kirkwood replied: "All of the above."

She said: "I had the most amazing time on Strictly that I will never, ever forget, and dancing with the gorgeous Pasha Kovalev was a treat and a privilege, so I have very happy memories of it.

"We were always singing in our training sessions and it was such good fun."

All four judges voted to save Bright and Clifton, including Craig Revel-Horwood, whom Kirkwood described as "one of the nicest people you could hope to meet - a lovely, lovely man".

She added: "And of course I met Bryan Adams on Strictly as well. Everything was amazing and I'll never forget it."