Celebrity Traitors Returns With Record 9 Million Viewers

The Celebrity Traitors opened its second season with 9 million viewers at its peak.

The Thursday night premiere on BBC One averaged 8.9 million viewers across its 75-minute run, according to overnight numbers reported by Deadline. Overnight figures count people who watched live or later the same day. The episode peaked at 9 million.

More than half of everyone watching television at the time tuned in. That made it the most-watched programme of the evening, Variety reported.

It is now the biggest launch in the UK history of The Traitors. The opener drew around 3 million more viewers than the launches of the first celebrity series and the most recent civilian series, which uses members of the public rather than famous faces.

Claudia Winkleman is back as host. New episodes air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer every Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m. BST.

The return follows a strong first celebrity run last year. That finale was watched by 11.1 million people, Deadline reported. Comedian Alan Carr won the series, with actor Nick Mohammed and former rugby player Joe Marler finishing behind him.

The civilian version has been building to this point. Its third series finale drew 7.4 million viewers, based on BARB audience figures. BARB is the industry body that measures UK television viewing.

Its fourth series then opened with an average of 6.4 million overnight viewers and a peak of nearly 7 million. The fourth series finale grew to an average of 9.4 million viewers and a peak of 9.6 million, with a 54.9% audience share, according to the BBC. Share means the proportion of people watching TV at that time.

What makes this stand out is the pace of growth. A premiere that beats the last launch by 3 million is rare. For fans, this means the show returns twice weekly in its fixed slot, with the fifth civilian series set to premiere early next year.