Michael Vaughan has become the latest casualty of Strictly Come Dancing 2012, after his luck finally ran out in his second consecutive dance-off with partner Natalie Lowe. The former England cricketer had narrowly escaped elimination from the bottom two on two previous occasions, including last weekend when he survived while Victoria Pendleton left the show. This time around though his luck ran out when he found himself up against Nicky Byrne and Karen Hauer - and his reprise of his samba proved no match for the Westlife singer's reprisal of his Argentine Tango, with a unanimous verdict from the judges. "They both upped their game tonight," Darcey Bussell said afterwards. "It's really difficult but I'm going to save Nicky and Karen. Bruno agreed, paying homage to the couple's Bond-inspired routine by saying: "I really have to go for the couple who had the licence to thrill." Afterwards Michael said he had "had a ball" on the show, adding: "September, October, November and still dancing in December." And paying tribute to Natalie Lowe he said, "I've drained every ounce of dance ability out of my body because of this lady...everything about this show, the judges and everyone backstage, all the contestants have been great, I've got new friends that I've made for life. "Nicky thoroughly deserved that win, he wiped the floor with me!" Michael added, "I've had a ball, and the real winner for me is Natalie. She got me to the ninth week, which is quite remarkable." Saturday's show saw Michael's samba finish bottom of the heap, scoring just 24 points and picking up a mixed response from the judges. Craig told him, "You're wearing a great shirt, it's what in it that bothers me," while Len Goodman added that the routine "wasn't fantastic". Six celebrities now remain in the competition, with Kimberley Walsh, Dani Harmer, Louis Smith, Denise Van Outen and Lisa Riley all making it straight through on the public vote. Next weekend they will face the series' first ever 'dance fusion' challenge - in which the couples will have to perform a pair of different dances combined.
