It's the end of the Strictly Come Dancing road for Whitchurch dancer AJ Pritchard and partner Lauren Steadman.

The couple made it to the semi finals of the much-loved programme, but following their performances of the Tango and the Samba, the pair were in the bottom two against Pussycat Doll Ashley Roberts and her partner Pasha Kovalev.

After scoring their highest score of the series last week, the pair were on a high going into the semi finals.

Their first performance of the Tango received good feedback from the judges, with Darcy Bussell commenting on paralympian Lauren's fierce determination and said: "I felt your nerves, but I think that added to the performance."

Shirley Ballas credited professional AJ on his choreography for the dance and said the pair were synchronised in the dance.

Bruno Tonioli added that it was Lauren's "most grown up and mature performance to date".

The pair were awarded a score of 31 for the dance, with AJ adding that "Lauren gave it her everything".

The judges looked over the couple's Strictly journey, with Darcy commenting on Lauren's extraordinary determination and her fantastic relationship with AJ.

However the pair's second dance didn't go quite as well as the pair hoped, following some mistakes in the Samba.

Craig Revell-Horwood said: "It's a shame it went a little bit wrong – it wasn't your night."

Shirley added: "You have a larger than life partnership, but there were too many mistakes tonight. You started on the wrong foot, unfortunately it was not your best dance."

AJ and Lauren found themselves in the bottom two in the Sunday night results show, but the judges vote went against their favour and the couple left the competition.

AJ said: "For Lauren it's always been about ability and not disability. I'm so proud of you, you're a fantastic person and you've done yourself proud."

Lauren added: "I'm grateful I got AJ as a partner, everyone thinks you're an amazing dancer. You can be hard on the outside but on the inside you're so soft and lovely."