Celebrity Traitors returns to 8.9 million viewers in record opening
8.9 million viewers watched the opening episode of Celebrity Traitors Season 2 overnight.
The figure, reported by Deadline, covers the initial same-night audience before catch-up viewing is added. Viewing peaked at just over 9 million during the 75-minute launch show.
It is a record for an opening episode of The Traitors in the UK, across both the celebrity and civilian versions. The launch took a viewing share of nearly 55%, meaning more than half of the people watching television at that time were tuned in.
The episode is now the second most-watched television episode of the year excluding sport. It sits behind only the January final of the civilian Traitors, according to the same report.
The companion show, Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked, drew 3 million viewers. The main series airs on Thursday and Friday nights at 8 p.m. GMT and is produced by Studio Lambert.
Series one debuted on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in October 2025, according to the BBC Media Centre. It averaged 14.9 million viewers across its run and was named the biggest UK television audience of 2025, RTE reported.
That first celebrity run featured contestants including Nick Mohammed and Celia Imrie, according to the BBC annual report. Alan Carr won the series and took an £87,500 prize, The Guardian reported. The BBC then commissioned a second series to air in 2026.
What makes this stand out is the scale of live viewing. Overnight numbers often grow once seven-day and 28-day catch-up is counted. A start above 8 million puts the new run firmly in the Thursday and Friday night slot for the weeks ahead.
