Simon Cowell has declared war on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
The 54-year-old music mogul will pitch his ITV series ‘The X Factor’ against the BBC One dancing competition for the second time this year on Friday (10.09.14) after deciding to air the show on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the boot camp and judges’ houses stages of the series.
The shows are set to go head to head at 9pm, although ITV bosses deny this is a deliberate clash and insist they have been forced to broadcast an extra episode of the series on Friday as the Sunday schedule is too full.
An ITV source said: "The plan to spread Boot Camp and Judges’ Houses across three nights has been in place for some time – before we saw the Strictly launch night billing.
"These are always longer shows and this year we don’t have space on Sundays."
However, BBC bosses have hit back at the claims.
An insider told The Sun newspaper: "They claim they are doing everything to avoid clashes but are playing The X Factor on a Friday for the first time ever when Strictly’s first live show has been on Fridays for years. "
Meanwhile, it was Strictly that came out on top when the shows battled it out for ratings for the first time this year with the singing competition drawing a crowd of 9.2 million compared to ‘Strictly’s’ 9.4million, prompting Simon to Tweet, "round one to them".
Simon Cowell declares war on Strictly Come Dancing
