Strictly Come Dancing was second again after scheduling saw it clash with the ITV talent show for more than an hour.
The dance show closed the gap slightly with the difference in peak audiences falling from two million last week to 1.4 million last night.
The X Factor's audience peaked at 10.1 million, 40% of last's night television viewers, compared to 8.7 million (38%) for Strictly which last night saw former jockey Richard Dunwoody get the boot.
Strictly's peak audience was at 7.55pm, just before The X Factor started at 8pm.
Last night's average audience for The X Factor, which is still in the preliminary stages of choosing finalists, was 8.9 million, 36% of those watching TV between 8pm and 9.15pm.
Strictly was left trailing one million viewers behind with an average of 7.9 million (33%).
An ITV spokesman said: "The X Factor performed particularly well with the younger audience, attracting 49% of the 16 to 34 demographic over the whole show, compared to 23% watching Strictly Come Dancing."
Although Strictly was the viewers' second choice for the second Saturday running, its average audience rose by 200,000 on last week's 7.7 million and its peak remained steady at 8.7 million.
The peak audience for X Factor was 600,000 down on last week's 10.7 million and its average audience dropped 400,000 from 9.3 million last Saturday.
A BBC spokeswoman said: "We are very pleased that the Strictly Come Dancing audience has remained consistent with a peak of 8.7 million people tuning in.
"Alongside Merlin and the rest of Saturday evening's line up, BBC One is clearly providing viewers with a range of shows that they are enjoying right across the night."
The two shows clashed in the prime time slot with Strictly being shown between 7.25pm and 9.05pm, while X Factor went out between 8pm and 9.15pm.
Strictly starts at the earlier time of 7pm next Saturday when the 14 remaining couples will compete against each other for the first time, dancing the quickstep or the paso doble.
During the show's first two weeks, the celebrity dancers were split into two groups.
Tennis player Martina Hingis was the first star to leave the dancefloor last week and she was followed by Dunwoody last night when he lost a dance off against Coronation Street star Craig Kelly.
The former jockey, who twice won the Grand National, said: "It's been an unbelievable experience."
He said partner Lilia Kopylova had done a "tremendous job" while she described him as "by far the most hard working partner I have had" and added that he had promised to teach her to ride.
Hollyoaks star Ricky Whittle who plays Calvin Valentine in the Channel 4 soap opera is the bookies' favourite to win the show after topping the judges' scoreboard last night.
Ladbrokes today cut the odds on Whittle from 6/4 to 5/4 after head judge Len Goodman told him: "You are the one to beat."
Spokesman Robin Hutchison said: "Whittle is definitely the one to beat - he's the red hot favourite in our book.
"Something will have to have gone dreadfully wrong to prevent him going odds on in the next couple of weeks."
Last week's judges' favourite Ali Bastian, who stars as PC Sally Armstrong in The Bill, is hot on Whittle's heels at 7/2.
Mr Hutchinson said the industry had breathed a sigh of relief after Dunwoody was thrown off the show because he was popular with punters.
"Dunwoody cost us a good few quid in his racing days but we'd have been for the knacker's yard if he'd won Strictly," he said.
The opening weeks of the seventh series of the popular show have been overshadowed by controversy about the new look judging panel.
Complaints to the BBC about the decision to axe veteran choreographer Arlene Phillips totalled 4,220 on Friday with a further 1,093 complaints about the performance of her replacement, singer Alesha Dixon.
Some 118 complaints have been received about the decision to show Strictly at a time which clashes with The X Factor.
The debate on whether 2007 winner Dixon is experienced enough to judge others continued today on the show's website.
Some viewers said Dixon is better able to appreciate the task facing the novice dancers while others have called for Dixon to be replaced by someone with more technical knowledge.
Karen Hardy, who partnered cricketer Mark Ramprakash to victory in 2006, is among the names suggested by viewers.
Hardy is not one of the show's professional dancers this series but choreographed a group dance for Friday's show.
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