Heather Small has been voted off Strictly Come Dancing.

Heather ended up in the bottom two four times in a row, and tonight was just one time too many. She was in the dance off with Rachel Stevens, after her dance Craig Revel Horwood, Arlene Phillips and Bruno Tonioli chose Stevens to stay in the competition.

Len Goodman praised the singer’s improved dance skills, he told her: “I did agree with the other judges, but that last tango was the best I’ve seen Heather dance. Well done.”

Strictly Come Dancing star, Heather Small, has spoken out about recent claims that racism is to blame for her repeatedly ending up in the botton two on the show.

“For me personally, if someone wants to have a proper conversation about bigotry and race then great, but not in a context that’s salacious. It’s too serious a topic for that,” Small told the Daily Mail. “If I’m going to discuss it I’m going to be proactive about it, not reactive. Have I ever experienced discrimination, well, of course I have.

“But there’s a time and a place to discuss these things, and it’s not something that should be just flung at a situation. In terms of Strictly, if I didn’t think people were going to be fair to me, then I wouldn’t have taken part.”

Strictly Come Dancing continues at 6.00pm tonight on BBC One.

Heather Small has warned the Strictly Come Dancing judges that she will fight back if they slate her first solo performance tonight.

“I wonder if the judges take bribes? They’re so harsh,” Small wrote in her training diary, published in The Mirror today. “If you make any mistake they magnify it and to see someone get a tongue-lashing on live TV is terrible. Craig Revel Horwood has the harshest tongue – that man has not come to play!”

She added: “The worst thing I could hear from the judges is that the whole thing is rubbish. If that happened I’d find it very hard to be polite.”

Strictly Come Dancing continues at 6.45pm tonight on BBC One.

Heather Small (Strictly Come Dancing partner is Brian Fortuna)

As a member of pop group M People, Heather sold several million records, won two Brit Awards, a Mercury Music Prize award and performed across the globe winning an army of fans.

With hits such as Moving On Up, One Night In Heaven and Search For The Hero, Heather became one of the seminal British voices of the Nineties.

As a solo artist, Heather performed Proud when Britain won the Olympic bid.

Heather says: “I occasionally suffer from stage fright and, if left to my own devices, I would probably say no to anything scary.

“However, everyone said I should give it a go, so I thought, why not? I just hope my nerves don’t get the better of me.”

The Sun has reported that M People singer, Heather Small, has signed up for this years series of Strictly Come Dancing.

The show kicks off on BBC One on September the 13th and Heather is said to be just about to start rehearsing with her partner. It’ll be a busy few weeks for the singer as she is also gearing up to perform her song Proud at the Olympics handover concert in London on August 24.