Strictly Come Dancing BEATS The X Factor in the Saturday night ratings battle for a second week running
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Strictly Come Dancing maintained its lead over rival The X Factor, according to overnight audience figures.
The BBC1 show's latest live edition - which saw viewers voting for the first time this series - pulled in an average of 9.3 million viewers, 100,000 up on last Saturday's programme.
ITV's X Factor drew 8.5 million (including viewers of its +1 catch-up channel) for the first show at the judges' houses stage of the contest - 200,000 down on the equivalent show last year.
Golden goddess: Sophie Ellis Bextor's stunning performance contributed to Strictly Come Dancing beating The X Factor in the Saturday night ratings battle for the second week running
The latest Strictly, which saw singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor awarded a huge score of 36 for her Charleston, had a peak audience of 10.6 million while ITV claimed a 10 million peak for its programme.
X Factor's average audience was up 700,000 on the previous Saturday and ITV said the series as a whole is up year-on-year, although the 2012 run saw a major drop on previous series.
It was a jam-packed night of entertainment on both channels, as Sophie had some strong competition from fellow dancers including Susanna Reid and Abbey Clancy on the leaderboard.
The thigh's the limit! Abbey Clancy ditched the elegant ball dress she wore on last week's show in favour of an eye wateringly skimpy pink minidress for Saturday night's show
Impressive: Making sure to show off her tiny model figure, Abbey opted for the most daring outfit of the night in a thigh-skimming pink number with cut-out detail as she took to the dancefloor with partner Alja¿ Skorjanec
Scoring 9s across the board, judge Darcey Bussell told Sophie: 'The Charleston is made for you, it was just perfect. The best performance tonight so far!'
And Len Goodman added: 'It was a great routine and beautifully danced.'
Over on The X Factor, judges Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne were given the difficult decision of whittling six acts in their respective Groups and Over's categories to three.
They're through! Sam Bailey and Shelley Smith were put through to The X Factor Live Shows on Saturday night's show
Divas doing it for themselves! Lorna Simpson's powerhouse performance of Beyoncé's If I Were A Boy secured her place in Sharon's final three for the Overs
More than a few happy and sad tears were shed by the twelve hopefuls who put everything into their performances at their respective mentors homes.
But in the end it was Shelley Smith, Sam Bailey and Lorna Simpson of the over 25s and Luke Friend, Nicholas McDonald and Sam Callahan who would be heading through to the live shows.
Judges Nicole Scherzinger and Gary Barlow will be picking their acts on Sunday night, in the last judges' houses episode before the live finals.
And one celebrity will be voted off when Strictly Come Dancing returns on BBC1 on Sunday night at 7.30pm.
Rockers: Luke Friend and Sam Callahan were Louis's top choice for the live shows
Classic: Like past X Factor winner Shayne Ward, Nicholas McDonald sang Daniel Bedingfield's If You're Not The One to Louis' delight
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2446478/Strictly-Come-Dancing-BEATS-The-X-Factor-Saturday-night-ratings-battle-second-week-running.html#ixzz2gwvNjx5V
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