Cherie Lunghi voted off 'Strictly'

Cherie Lunghi has become the ninth contestant to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing.

The actress and her dance partner James Jordan were voted off after facing Lisa Snowdon and Brendan Cole in the final showdown. It was the first time that either couple had been in the bottom two.

Lunghi was sent home despite winning praise from the judges for her performance of the Cha Cha Cha in last night's show.

"You played it well - you can do Latin, you can do Cha Cha, keep it going that way. I loved it," Bruno Tonioli explained.

Craig Revel Horwood added: "I would have liked to have seen a little bit more punctuation in that routine. However, you were magnificent to watch and I do believe that you are beginning to conquer Latin."

The judges' vote saw Snowdon and Cole being backed by Horwood, Arlene Phillips and Len Goodman. Tonioli was the only panel member to vote in favour of Lunghi and Jordan.

Speaking afterwards, Lunghi revealed: "It has been great, such a wonderful experience and great fun. It's been a huge learning curve and I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

Jordan added: "I think Cherie had a lot more to show. This is supposed to be a dance contest... please, please, people at home vote for the dancing."