Strictly Come Dancing widens X Factor ratings gap

Singer Pixie Lott topped the leader board on this week's Strictly Come Dancing

Strictly Come Dancing has beaten rival talent show The X Factor by two million viewers, according to overnight ratings - the biggest gap of the season so far.

The BBC One and ITV shows only overlapped for 20 minutes on Saturday, from 20:00 BST.

Strictly attracted an average of 9.4 million viewers, while The X Factor drew 7.4 million. The viewing figures do not include catch-up services.

Both shows dominated viewing in their timeslots.

BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing attracted 42.8% of the viewing public from 18:30-20:20 BST. Between 20:00-22:10 BST, 32.4% of TV viewers watched ITV's long-running talent show.

On Strictly, singer Pixie Lott finished at the top of the leader board, receiving 35 points for her samba with Trent Whiddon, just ahead of presenter Caroline Flack.

Judy Murray found herself at the bottom of the pile, with just 18 points for her Charleston with Anton Du Beke.

However, it was rugby star Thom Evans who was voted off after the judges failed to agree.

Thom Evans and his partner Iveta Lukosiute performed the cha-cha to It's My Party by Jessie J

Evans and his partner Iveta Lukosiute ended up in the dance-off opposite Blue star Simon Webbe and Kristina Rihanoff following the public vote.

Both Craig Revel Horwood and Darcey Bussell chose to save Evans, while Bruno Tonioli opted to save Webbe. Head judge Len Goodman chose Webbe to stay, saying he and Rihanoff had "the cleanest footwork".

Meanwhile on The X Factor, Jake Quickenden was voted off after losing the sing-off to the band Only The Young.

His cover of Daniel Merriweather's Red failed to impress the judges, with Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini voting to send him home and leaving his mentor Mel B in tears.

Quickenden had previously competed in the competition in 2012, when he was eliminated at the judges' houses stage.

However, Cowell was not wowed by either act in the sing-off.

"I don't know what is going on with these sing-offs at the moment but they were both horrible," he declared.