Strictly triumphs over X Factor in ratings battle

 
4 November 2012
The Weekender

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Strictly Come Dancing stretched its lead in the ratings war with X Factor by more than two million last night - its biggest for six years.

X Factor's ratings woes continued with the ITV1 show pulling in an average of only 7.8 million - even including viewers watching on the +1 catch-up channel - which is also two million behind the equivalent show last year.

The audience has plummeted by four million compared to this stage in 2010, the last series featuring show boss Simon Cowell on the judging panel.

Strictly Come Dancing on BBC1 last night pulled in a 9.8 million average, which is 200,000 up on the previous week.

The show's lead over X Factor is believed to be the biggest for around six years.

In last night's Strictly Come Dancing show Denise Van Outen waltzed back to the top of the leaderboard.

The TV presenter and actress reclaimed the top spot with a romantic Viennese waltz to the famous Etta James song At Last after losing her number one spot to gymnast Louis Smith last week.

Van Outen and her dance partner James Jordan achieved a score of 35, narrowly edging out Girls Aloud singer Kimberley Walsh and Tracy Beaker star Dani Hamer, who both scored 33.

But Olympic gymnastics hero Smith remained the bookies' favourite despite finishing out of the podium positions on this week's leaderboard.

His samba to Ricky Martin's La Bomba with partner Flavia Cacace, prompted judge Bruno Tonioli to brand him "the king of hypnotic pelvic gyration".

But Darcey Bussell was not so impressed.

"I was a bit disappointed. It was a bit safe. It was too calculated, the moves were too calculated for me.

"I wanted it to be freer, much freer."

Meanwhile, Daybreak presenter Richard Arnold's foxtrot failed to impress the judges on the BBC1 dance show as he plummeted to the bottom of the leaderboard, with a disappointing 17.

Commenting on his dance with partner Erin Boag to the Shirley Bassey classic Hey Big Spender, judge Len Goodman described Arnold as "the plodfather".

He said: "It was a tad ploddy, I'm going to call you the plodfather."

Judge Craig Revel Horwood described it as "a complete disaster".

Olympic golden girl Victoria Pendleton once again disappointed with a samba to Tom Jones's It's Not Unusual, finishing second-bottom with a score of 23.

Wearing a sparkly white dress, the cycling gold medallist's dance with partner Brendan Cole was described as "galumpish and awkward" by Revel Horwood.

The results show will be screened on BBC1 at 7.20pm tonight.

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