Strictly Come Dancing host Bruce Forsyth feels sad for John Sergeant, and is sorry for the other dancers and judges on the show.
He described the departure of Sergeant from the show as a "shock" - and said it ruined his opening joke for this week.
The veteran presenter paid tribute to Sergeant - but said that the judges were there to give their professional opinions.
He told the BBC: "It was a bit of a shock it really was. It ruined my opening joke for this week.
"I was going to say: 'Ladies, gentlemen and children welcome to the John Sergeant show."
Asked if he thought Sergeant was right to go, Forsyth said: "Well, I feel very sorry for John, because he's put in the most awkward position.
"He looks at all the other dancers and he knows they're better dancers than him and he must have felt, over the last few weeks, he must have been very guilty in a way.
"But the way the show - as he's been saying, the rules are the rules, and the public have half of the vote and the judges have the other half... but I don't know, see I'm a Pisces, I go both different ways.
"I can feel sorry for John and I feel sorry for the dancers, I feel sorry for the judges because they're there to give their professional opinion of the dancing, which is what they do.
"And it's all ended up - it's a bit sad in a way.
"I'm sad for John because he's a lovely guy and the whole team adore him.
"But then you see I felt sorry for Cherie (Lunghi) who worked so hard.
"People still don't realise how hard the people work learning the dances for five, six, seven hours a day."
He agreed that the public should vote for who they wanted - and compared Sergeant's efforts with contestants who took part in family favourite TV show The Generation Game.
Forsyth said: "When John did his dances, we need to go back 30 years and bring back the Generation Game - without me being able to do a demonstration before he did it, which is a drawback for him...
"But it was pure Generation Game, bless his heart. And that's what the public love to see."