Robbie, Ellie, help X-Factor draws 953,000

Guest performances by Robbie Williams and Ellie Goulding on last night’s The X Factor drew 953,000 metro viewers. It was the sixth most watched show according to OzTam’s overnight ratings.

It was a slight rise from Monday night’s 948,000 (the first Monday night live show) but a slip down from last week’s figures of 1.08 million and 1.011 million.

But The X Factor, along with the drama 800 Words and Seven News, helped the Seven network win the night with a 23% share.

Last night’s Decades Challenge themed show saw contestants perform hits from the ‘80s and ‘90s. Filipino-Australian Cyrus Villanueva’s rendition of coach Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game saw Dannii Minogue tell him, “If you perform like that every week, nobody else stands a chance.”

However vocal group The Fisher Boys were dropped from the competition. They were at the Bottom Two with Jess & Matt, much to the disappointment of Guy Sebastian, the coach of both acts, who expressed how “gutted” he was that both were there after what he considered fine performances in the episode before.

The four WA brothers performed Kings of Leon’s Use Somebody but a sublime rendition by Jess & Matt of Crowded House’s Fall At Your Feet saw the other three coaches reluctantly but unanimously vote for the two to stay in the Top 10.

They now join Villanueva, Georgia Denton, Big T, Jimmy Davis, Michaela Baranov, Louise Adams, Mahalia Simpson, In Stereo and Natalie Conway.

Next week sees a double elimination for the first time in The X Factor Australia.

Goulding energetically performed latest single On My Mind, definitely singing live without the lip-syncing controversy at the AFL Grand Final three days before.

The all-black suited Robbie Williams opted for his big hit Angels, hamming it up, generating a singalong, shaking hands with the audience, at one stage sitting on the lap of one lady and mock-complaining “I’m being manhandled” when she kissed him. When he hugged another, he quipped, “I love you but I think you should start seeing other people.”

Asked why he kept returning to Australia, Williams replied “They’re the best audiences in the world … and I’ve only said that in seven countries!”