Linzi Brown has become the first woman to be knocked out of ITV's talent quest Popstars: The Rivals.

The 19-year-old from Manchester last night won the smallest vote after a singing contest with nine other hopefuls.

But the ITV1 show continued to win the ratings war against BBC One's Fame Academy, according to overnight ratings.

Fame Academy house is in north London

Popstars: The Rivals attracted an audience of 6.8m for its 7pm slot on Saturday, while Fame Academy again failed to breach the 5m barrier on Friday at 8.30pm.

Fame Academy attracted 4.7m viewers, slightly fewer than the previous week.

It was beaten by ITV1's Celebrity Fit Club, which won an audience of of 6.6m at the same time.

Fame Academy, in which would-be stars are trained under the 24-hour gaze of TV cameras, has so far failed to match the audiences for its predecessor in the same Friday time slot, the situation comedy My Family.

Expulsion

The final episode of My Family on 27 September was watched by 7.9m viewers, according to the same overnight ratings.

Ashley House: The first to be voted out of Fame Academy

Friday's episode saw the expulsion of IT worker Chris Manning, the second student to leave the Academy.

The 24-year-old failed to win enough support from the public or his fellow contestants with his performance of Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl on the live show.

Fame Academy, which offers the winning contestant a �1m recording contract and a year of luxury living, is shot at Witanhurst House, in Highgate, north London.