‘The Traitors’ UK Smashes Ratings Record For Opening Episode

Spoiler alert: This article mentions details from last night’s episode of The Traitors UK.

The Traitors UK smashed its record rating for an opening ep last night, luring in more than 5M viewers.

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The show peaked with 5.4M, close to its best ever performance which was the finale of last season. It was the most watched show of yesterday in the UK, beating off competition from the news and a Gavin & Stacey tribute. The number will likely shoot up over the coming days as more people watch on catch up.

The previous opener was 2M down on last night and demonstrates how much of a big draw The Traitors – which airs in multiple countries around the world including Peacock in the U.S. – has become for the BBC.

The Traitors launch is fast becoming one of the TV calendar moments of the year and the BBC knows it, having put a fair bit of marketing might behind the show and giving it a lucrative New Year’s Day slot before releasing the next immediately on iPlayer. Episodes will air each week Wednesday to Friday until the end of this month.

With a game that feels it needs to be ever changing, the BBC immediately threw caution to the wind by ‘eliminating’ three contestants while they were on the train to the castle before the game had even properly started, although the fate of Fozia, Jake and Alexander remains unknown. The number in the castle was therefore whittled down to the standard 22, with three then selected as traitors by host Claudia Winkleman.

The biggest format tweak is a change to the final that will see the players not reveal whether they are a traitor or faithful as they leave the castle. The remaining players will therefore have to rely on their instincts to know whether there is still a traitor left in the game.

The next episode airs tonight.

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