It's 85 minutes long, not 115 minutes long. However, anything Strictly 'lost' in the first 10 minutes, it will surely gain in ITV's post match which is notorious for losing large amount of viewers?

As I type, they're only just going off the air!

So will TV Burp start on time? or should I put a recorder on Merlin just incase?

On the RPG - players have gone from 9.0m to 10.6m for SCD, for TXF the range is 9.7m to 10.5m. I was quite optimistic and went for 10.3m for each show. England beat Spain 1-0, the match wasn't that good really - can see viewers switching off in droves once that whistle went. You've Been Framed will be squeezed and can see TV Burp dropping on last week. The X Factor hype (yawn!) ought see more viewers tuning in this week.

Indeed only Shipwrecked survives from the desert island/ jungle era of reality shows from ten years ago, but this has been cancelled twice and barely figures on the ratings radar, yet someone in Channel 4 must like it to keep coming back.
Think about the other shows of a similar format I'm A Celeb has seen off- Castaway had a revival in 2007 that no one watched, Survivor ended as it started and was never recommissioned, Celebrity Love Island was a disaster that even a name change couldn't save, When Women Rule The World tanked on Channel 4 and 71 Degrees North was seen as a cynical rip off with snow. IAC survives due to its likeable hosts, 90 minute running time that has never been exceeded, celebs for all age groups and challenges that are quite funny. I'm not a big fan, but will watch if nothing else is on.

YBF started 4 minutes late. If this persists for the rest of ITV1's night then X Factor conveniently avoids an overlap with Strictly.

Possibly if they have a reduced no. of adverts during You've Been Framed. Otherwise, I suspect it'll be starting about a couple of minutes later than billed.

that is fine, they shouldn't clash with Merlin at all then (TV Burp always finishes early, and Merlin is on 5 minutes afterwards anyways)

Lots of middle-aged male TV executives who like to see lots of pretty young things in bikinis.

Or possibly some female TV executives who like to see some young male hunks with their shirts off.

The ratings surprise of recent years, transformed from a lunchtime show mostly watched by farmers to a ratings hit, same as the original Top Gear was a very earnest show that discussed mpg figures for family cars and had low ratings.

which one describes Kitten?

Possibly, but you haven't figured on gay television executives who might like this kind of thing
Mind you as a ratings tour de force, Shipwrecked has struggled and I'm surprised it's been kept going, but maybe it is the bikini factor.

The first dance on Strictly started about 20 seconds before the final whistle so they had a decent amount of padding to avoid the gameplay. England hanging on at the end will have produced a very useful peak I would have thought.

Certainly we will learn tonight whether all the behind the scenes shinannagans have had the desired effect for XF.

EDIT: Wikipedia says M and N did appear on the last show just in case anyone was worried.

Episode 2 of Frozen Planet posted another stunning AI figure of 94.5 out of 100. About as good as it gets for a show on terrestrial TV.

Meanwhile at the bottom of the index, Friday 4th November's scintillating edition of Daybreak (67) was robbed of its usual place as the least appreciated broadcast of the week thanks to the ill advised wealth flaunting on display in Channel 5's Tamara (63.7).

Speaking of talent/reality/LE shows, was it ever true, as Hughie Green was keen on telling people, that Opportunity Knocks had 26 million viewers in 1976? I did see a rating for the final series in the Daily Mirror that stated 18.3 million were watching, which is still excellent, but was Mr Starmaker trying to up his ratings to tell the world how beastly Thames was for sacking him?

I don't suppose you have the AI figures for Mongrels do you Dannc? Thanks.

Shows you how in touch The Guardian is with the average viewer.

Well the highest rating I can find in TGH is 17.5 million viewers in 1978 which might have been the last show given it showcased people who had been made famous by it.(Frank Carson,Pam Ayres,Mary Hopkin,Freddie Davis,Little and Large,Peters and Lee,Tom Oconnor and Lena Zavaroni-surely they could have found a slot for Millican and Nesbitt!)

The highest "homes" rating is 8.6 million in 1974 and I have no idea how you convert that into millions but Im pretty sure its not 26 million.

EDIT-Wikipedia says that M and N did appear on the last show just in case anyone is interested 33 years on.

Start of The X Factor delayed due to technical problems.

Sorry Neil. I can't find those.

Oh dear, technical problems on ITV mean they're currently airing a few auditions as TXF seems to have been delayed.

What's the chances they're fixed once Strictly finishes.

Ouch. That's going to hurt in the morning.

It's more ITV2 filler than primetime ITV1, repeating "best of" auditions.

The latest stunt to try and grab rating is actually not showing anything at all, innovative.

Pretty certain Strictly will win tonight, given that ITV1 now appears to be in filler mode for the next 5 minutes.

Isn't it just! A bit of a disaster if they don't sort it soon. Don't see what else they can do.