BBC Finale Watched By 11 Million People

SPOILER ALERT. DO NOT READ ON IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED THE FINAL OF CELEBRITY TRAITORS UK.

The dramatic finale of Celebrity Traitors UK was watched by a whopping 11.1 million people on the BBC last night, peaking above the 12 million mark.

This was the most-viewed Traitors ep in UK history and was comfortably the most-watched episode of TV this year so far, stretching back now to the Gavin & Stacey finale, last year’s Euros soccer tournament and the Strictly Come Dancing final for broadcasts that have been watched by more people live. The most-watched ep of the civillian version is 7.4 million for the final of the previous season, according to Barb data supplied by overnights.tv.

According to the BBC, the debut episode of The Celebrity Traitors is now the biggest unscripted title on Broadcaster VoD ever, while the series has now become the biggest unscripted title on TV for four years.

Given the love that audiences had for the non-celebrity contestants across three fantastic seasons of The Traitors on the BBC, viewers may have been sceptical when a celebrity version was first announced. Would the celebs give their heart and soul in the same vein as Season 2 winner Harry Clark, or the faux-villainous Paul Gorton? Such scepticism melted away after episode one of this first runaway celebrity season. Around two-thirds of people watching TV last night at 9 p.m. GMT were tuned in to Celebrity Traitors, an almost unrivalled figure.

Despite a leaked version in Canada and New Zealand threatening to spoil the party, last night’s finale took the drama to new heights. In a nail-biting final roundtable, Nick Mohammed, David Olusoga and final traitor Alan Carr somehow rounded on “traitor hunter” Joe Marler, who had previously had a pact with Mohammed and believed they would be voting out first traitor Cat Burns and then Carr before romping home to victory.

It was left for Carr, the remaining traitor, to take the spoils instead, as Mohammed and Olusoga chose to end the game with the comedian still remaining. His emotional breakdown after his victory was revealed said it all about just how much these celebrities cared about the game. Carr won £87,000 ($114,000) for his chosen charity.

They may already be famous within their own disciplines and beyond, but the series has made heroes of the likes of Marler and comedian Joe Wilkinson. Some episodes were electrifying, and roundtables featuring the likes of Marler’s “big dog theory” about Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry generated memes and watercooler chatter aplenty.

The series has steadily grown its already impressive audience throughout and that audience will likely continue growing as people catch up on BBC iPlayer over the coming week.

The Traitors, once again, has proved just how faithful it remains to the BBC. A fourth season of the civillian version dropped teaser last night and will air in a few weeks time. All3Media-owned Studio Lambert makes the series in the UK and U.S.