The X Factor: Celebrity launch gets just under 5 million viewers

The first episode of The X Factor: Celebrity saw Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger size up a batch of famous faces who aren't best known for their singing ability.

The show – which saw The Chase's Jenny Ryan, journalist and broadcaster Martin Bashir and Glee's Kevin McHale take part – peaked at 5.3 million and won its time slot with a 27.3% audience share. It was also the most-watched show of the night among 16 to 34-year-old viewers.

However, BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing was way ahead in terms of total viewers – with an average of 8.5 million watching (a 45.6% audience share) and a peak of 9.1 million, it was the most watched show across all channels for the night.

Strictly – which saw Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse stun the judges with a sexy rumba – did not compete with The X Factor directly, airing in an earlier 6.40pm slot.

The X Factor: Celebrity's launch figure is down on the 5.5 million who watched the final of the 2018 series, and is also lower than the figures for Cowell's Britain's Got Talent: The Champions, which launched with 5.8 million in August.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6rrXBHYuJ0