Amelia Lily's X Factor exit draws 10.6 million viewers

Amelia Lily’s exit from the X Factor last night drew 10.6 million viewers as the ITV series was once again out-rated by BBC One‘s Strictly Come Dancing.

Lily exited the competition, finishing in third place, with Little Mix and Marcus Collins going through to tonight’s finale. The two-hour X Factor special pulled in 10.6 million viewers which was a whopping 3.5 million viewers fewer than last year’s show. The figure was also less than that of BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing which narrowly had the edge with 10.9 million viewers.

Elsewhere last night fantasy drama Merlin pulled in 5.5 million viewers while medical drama Casualty continued to suffer at the hands of tougher competition with 4.3 million viewers.