STRICTLY Come Dancing has continued its assault on Saturday night ratings, drawing almost double the viewers of The X Factor.

Some 10 million people tuned in to watch Alexandra Burke pull in the first 10s of the series on Saturday night.

The former X Factor winner was overcome with emotion as she said she wished her mother, who died shortly before the series began, was there to see it.

The show achieved a peak audience of 10.9 million.

The strong showing gave BBC One a 48.4 per cent share of the audience in that time slot and marks an improvement on the week before when the blockbuster Movie Week episode attracted 9.8 million viewers and a peak of 10.6 million.

This contrasts with The X Factor, which pulled in 5.5 million on Saturday night, including those watching on the ITV HD and ITV+1 channels, and gave ITV a 28 per cent share in the timeslot.

The show peaked with 6.4 million viewers.

The ratings are an improvement on last Saturday, when The X Factor was watched by 4.8 million viewers and took a 24 per cent share.

There was high drama as the Six Chair Challenge got under way and the judges narrowed down who would make it through to the next stage of the competition.

Simon Cowell sparked controversy when he invited Ash, a member of unsuccessful girl group NQ, to leave her friends and join New Girl Band, and proceed to the next round.

Nicole Scherzinger also stirred up dissent when she asked hopeful Talia Dean to give up her seat in the competition.

The Six Chair Challenge continues on The X Factor at 8pm on ITV.

The Strictly Come Dancing results show is on BBC One at 7.15pm.