Cowell polishes insults for ratings battle with ‘Strictly’

Simon Cowell said he was ready for "a ratings battle" after it emerged that The X Factor is going up against Strictly Come Dancing in the TV schedules.

The BBC ballroom show launches on Sunday September 7, running from 8pm to 9.15pm, which clashes with the X Factor episode on screen from 8pm to 9.05pm. The new series kicks off tonight.

Speaking at the show’s launch in central London, Cowell said it was the viewers who would lose out. He said: “I always think that when people do that, the people they are pissing off are the viewers. And they say this isn’t a ratings battle — it is, that’s why they did it.”

The new series of X-Factor kicks off with “a flashback” for a tearful Cheryl Fernandez-Versini when one of her old acts returns in a bid to re-start her career.

The Geordie judge is left wiping away tears at the performance of 25-year-old Amy Connelly, who lost out at the Judges’ Houses stage in 2008, and tells her: “Honestly, this is like a flashback for me, it’s something that you do to me, we just have a connection.”

Other acts seeking a connection with Cheryl include Irish singer Ben Quinlan, who presents the former Girls Aloud star with a green rose before serenading her with his version of That’s My Goal by previous X Factor winner Shayne Ward. Less impressive is 42-year-old Skegness hairdresser Jale Antor, who came to her audition dressed as Cheryl in the Fight For This Love video before performing her own unique take on the hit.

Cheryl is joined on this year’s panel by former Spice Girl Mel B, show supremo Cowell and Louis Walsh.