The Strictly Come Dancing hopeful will try and slaughter her ballroom opponents with the Cha-cha-cha on tonight's show.

But whatever the TV host does will be overshadowed by John Sergeant's final turn on the floor.

Christine told the News Letter earlier this week of her sadness the ex-BBC political correspondent had called time on his dancing career.

Apparently the 64-year-old was afraid he'd actually win - which he said would be a "joke too far".

Last Saturday, Christine and partner Matthew Cutler waltzed their way to a personal best score of 34 and fourth place on the leaderboard.

And after nine weeks of competition, the One Show host is the only female contestant not to have faced the dreaded dance-off - a sign of her public popularity.

Christine said: "It's nice at this point, obviously, to still be in the competition. Austin, Lisa, Cherie and Tom have always been up there at the top, so we've been tip-toeing around it. And then we just knock-em for six when they least expect it."

The Co Down brunette, 27, impressed judges at the start of the contest with a sizzling Brazilian Samba.

But recently her Paso Doble and American Smooth were blasted by the panel.

After one dance earlier this month, Arlene Phillips told Christine she looked like "Hollywood from the waist up" but "deadwood" from below.

Now Christine's ready to battle back and is emerging as a dark horse bookies' favourite to be crowned dancing queen.

Tonight Christine and Matthew hope to wow with their Cha-cha-cha - a dance that garnered Matthew a near-perfect 39 points last year with his partner Alesha Dixon, who won.

The pair certainly had judges in a whirl last week.

"Without doubt, your best yet," said Arlene Phillips of their waltz.

Head judge Len Goodman gushed: "She's under the radar and suddenly bloomin', blimey - where did she come from?"

Interest in the show has even reached Stormont, with a question being tabled asking Northern Ireland Arts Minister Gregory Campbell to get the public behind Christine and X Factor hopeful Eoghan Quigg.

Strangford DUP councillor Jim Shannon, who sits on the arts committee at Stormont, said he prefers Strictly to X Factor, but wants MLAs to whip up support for the Ulster contestants in both.