Dunwoody second to leave Strictly

Richard Dunwoody is the second evictee

Jockey Richard Dunwoody has become the second celebrity to be voted off the new series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing show.

Dunwoody and his partner Lilia Kopylova were beaten in a dance-off by Coronation Street actor Craig Kelly.

Dunwoody said: "It's been an unbelievable experience."

Jo Wood, actresses Laila Rouass, Zoe Lucker and Natalie Cassidy, actor Ricky Whittle, cricketer Phil Tufnell, were all safe.

Votes cast by the public were added to the judges' scores, leaving the two dance pairs with the lowest scores to fight for survival in the dance-off.

His fate was sealed when judges Craig Revel Horwood, Bruno Tonioli and Alesha Dixon all voted to save Kelly although head judge Len Goodman admitted he had planned to vote for Dunwoody.

Dunwoody's partner Lilia Kopylova described Dunwoody as "by far the most hard-working partner I have had" even though dancing did not come easily to him.

"And finally I'm going to learn how to ride horses," she said as she hugged him.

Hollyoaks star Ricky Whittle was top of the judges' leader board both nights this week.

The seven couples who survived Saturday's show join the seven who went through last week when tennis player Martina Hingis became the first to leave.

The 14 couples will compete against each other for the first time next Saturday.

Ratings battle

On ITV, The X Factor again triumphed over Strictly Come Dancing in the ratings battle, as the reality shows went head-to-head for a second week.

According to early overnight figures, 8.9 million tuned in to watch the first round of X Factor's boot camp stage, in which 200 hopefuls were whittled down to just 50 contestants.

The figure was down by nearly one million since last week - but the missing viewers had not defected to BBC One, which drew an audience of 7.9 million for Strictly, up from 7.7 million last week.

The X Factor continues on Sunday night, when 24 acts will be selected for the final round of auditions - held at the judges' houses.

But bookmakers are already taking bets on the competition's outright winner - with drama teacher Danyl Johnson an early favourite after his rendition of Joe Cocker's version of With A Little Help From My Friends.

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