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Strictly Come Dancing waltzes ahead of X Factor in ratings war

It's always been a battle of the ratings bewteeen Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor, and after just one show, Strictly has already started to waltz ahead of its rival show.

The BBC1 show, which launched on Saturday night, saw viewing figures peak at 9.8million, 300,000 more than the ITV1 talent show, which saw a peak of 9.5million.

Saturday’s launch show saw celebrities such as presenter Denise Van Outen, Olympian Victoria Pendleton, model Jerry Hall and former cricketer Michael Vaughan paired with their professional dancers for the series.

And a delighted insider at the BBC told the a British newspaper: “These are great figures.”

Strictly was also up on the 7.6million peak for last year’s launch show while the X Factor was down on the 10.6million for the same Saturday last year.

An X Factor source said the weekend’s viewing figures had left the show’s boss Simon Cowell “fuming” but added that he would be fighting to come out on top again.

Speaking to a British tabloid, the insider said that the talent show had “turned a corner,” claiming it had 400,000 more viewers than it had last week.

They added: “This is the start of the fight-back. The fight has now begun.”

Judge Tulisa Contostavlos said: “'Regardless of how much the figures go up and down it's still the biggest, most watched show on television.'

Show bosses have vowed to beat Strictly this series, and believe the real battle for ratings will begin when both programmes start their live shows on October 6th.

Cowell has already reportedly planned a shake-up of the show, including ditching current judge Nicole Scherzinger and replacing her with guest judge and former Spice Girl Mel B.

Read more:

• Strictly Come Dancing line-up
• Simon Cowell: 'Britney and i had a love affair on the phone'