Surprise Big Brother Eviction Draws 7.7 Million To Channel 4

Almost 8 million people tuned in to Channel 4 last night to watch Big Brother contestant Stuart Wilson leave the house in a surprise eviction just two days before the series finalé.

Unofficial overnight figures from BARB show that a peak of 7.7 million reality-TV fans watched the youngest housemate get evicted after receiving the least amount of votes to win the show, which ends its marathon ten-week run tomorrow.

An average of just over 7.5 million viewers tuned in to watch the twenty year-old psychology student from Macclesfield leave the house, providing Channel 4 with an impressive 49.8% share of the available audience between 10:30 and 11:00pm last night.

Big Brother kept the eviction a secret from the housemates, and after calling Stuart into the diary room, asked him to leave without saying goodbye to the four remaining contestants. The so-called ‘evil’ strategy proved a success and helped make last night’s show the highest rated of the series so far and one of the most watched shows on Channel 4 this year.

Channel 4 enjoyed an evening of bumper ratings last night with the earlier 9:00pm instalment of Big Brother, which saw Davina reveal details of the impending eviction, attracting a peak audience of 6.1 million viewers. An average of 5.7 million reality-TV fans tuned in for the duration of the show, which secured a 36.8% share of viewing for Channel 4.

The hour-long instalment of Peter Kay Live At The Manchester Arena, which was sandwiched between the two Big Brother shows, also kept viewers glued to their sets. The comedian’s stand-up routine drew an average of 6.7 million viewers, which equates to a healthy 40.4% share of the available audience.

Channel 4 claims that this year’s Big Brother has been the most successful so far, from its launch at the end of May, which was watched by a peak of 7.5 million viewers, to its latest shock eviction, the series has managed to keep viewers hooked with a constant stream of controversy and surprise. Ratings for this year’s reality-TV extravaganza have risen to about 5 million viewers a night and Channel 4 is expecting record audiences for the series finalé on Friday.

The now infamous Big Brother fight is certain to be remembered by cultural historians in years to come and remains the centre of investigations by both Ofcom and the police. The event itself drew a peak of seven million viewers intent on watching the brawling housemates, who had to be separated by security guards in the early hours of the morning (see Ofcom Investigating Big Brother As Over 100 Complain).

Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.co.uk

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