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'Strictly' beats 'X Factor' in ratings war by over 5 million

Strictly is dominating the ratings over X Factor this year. (BBC Pictures)
Strictly is dominating the ratings over X Factor this year. (BBC Pictures)

Strictly Come Dancing continues to win the ratings war over X Factor. The series which both have the coveted Saturday evening spot, have traditionally gone head to head in ratings.

But this year there hasn’t really been much competition for Strictly, as since its September premiere it has consistently outdone X Factor. And this week was no different.

Strictly received an average of ten million viewers Saturday night, peaking at eleven million viewers. This was down by 600,000 compared to the previous week, but it still beat rival X Factor by over 5 million.

X Factor had its first live episode of the series on Saturday, but this did little to help boost its flagging ratings. The episode only received 4.5 million viewers, 5.5 million less than Strictly.

X Factor veteran judge Simon Cowell said over the weekend that he isn’t bothered by the ratings these days. He told Piers Morgan for the Daily Mail: “I don’t care that much about ratings any more. I haven’t looked at them for the past three weeks. I swear to God that’s the truth.”

However in the same article Morgan claimed he believes the declining ratings ‘must be killing him inside.’

“Given the only god that Cowell truly believes in is himself, this wasn’t the most convincing assertion. The reason he doesn’t look at the ratings at the moment is because he keeps getting his backside kicked by a show he once boasted he’d annihilate,” Morgan wrote.

In its heyday, X Factor commanded upwards of 10 million viewers per episode, and produced some major stars such as Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke.


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