Strictly Come Dancing’s Bruno Tonioli has laid into Simon Cowell, stating that his show is “better” than The X Factor.
The judge, who is known for not being afraid to give his honest opinion, claimed to the Daily Star that Strictly “beat X Factor because we’re better. I don’t feel bad for Simon, no.”
The two shows have been battling it out to win the weekend viewing figures battle for years, and while 2017 has been a record breaking year for Strictly, there has been a significant decline in The X Factor’s ratings, despite a format shake up.
Read more: Strictly Come Dancing confusion as judge Bruno Tonioli takes a tumble!
Strictly Come Dancing has been pulling in more than 10 million viewers all series – whereas The X Factor has been watched by just five million each weekend.
Bruno might be friends with Simon Cowell – but that doesnt mean he’s embarrassed about beating him in the audience ratings…
“We beat X Factor because we’re better. I don’t feel bad for Simon, no. I didn’t watch X Factor this year, but how could I?” he said.
“I do Strictly and then I get on a plane to go to America the next day to do Dancing with the Stars. You can only do what you can do, and X Factor is not my show.”
Strictly was won by Holby City’s Joe McFadden and partner Katya Jones.
They beat fellow finalists Gemma Atkinson and Aljaz Skorjanec, Debbie McGee and Giovanni Pernice, and Alexandra Burke and Gorka Marquez.
Meanwhile, former Strictly head judge Len Goodman was on This Morning today, where he hit back at claims he is a “traitor” for quitting Strictly but staying on Dancing with the Stars.
While he bowed out of the BBC show last year, he remains on the Dancing with the Stars panel alongside Bruno in the US.
“People got very anal about this, saying, ‘Oh, the traitor, he’s left Strictly!’ but it was nothing to do with that,” said Len.
“It was all to do with my contract.”
Len explained: “On the BBC, it’s an annual thing, so they can fire or hire annually. But in America they sign you up for four years. So I had to do that.
“It then became a case of, ‘Do I want to fly every week back to Britain?’ I just could not physically do it. It’s an 11-hour flight, plus eight hour time difference, then two days here, then back. So, no.”
Although Len’s no longer a judge on Strictly, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been keeping an eye on things.
Read more: Strictly Come Dancing’s forks Marquez reveals the TRUTH behind his feud with Alexandra Burke
Discussing the finale, he said he felt Alexandra Burke had been the best dancer, but agreed Joe McFadden was a worthy winner.
“I thought the final was great, I enjoyed it very much,” he said.
“What I like is the balance. Probably Alexandra was the best dancer, however Joe, what a journey he had! He got through because of his popularity, which was lovely. The judges give their input, so do the viewers, and it’s marvellous.”