Almost 7 Million Watch ‘Bedsit Babes’ Return To Big Brother
Big Brother saw ratings surge last night as almost 7 million viewers tuned into to watch Emma and Michelle return to the main house after five days in the secret Big Brother bedsit.
Unofficial overnight figures from BARB show that a peak of 6.9 million reality-TV fans watched the so-called ‘bedsit babes’ return to the Big Brother house during a live show on Channel 4 last night.
An average of 6.4 million viewers tuned in to watch last night’s antics, which saw the two returning housemates surprise their fellow contestants during a fancy dress party.
Ratings for last night’s show are well above the 4.6 million average for the series so far and are just ahead of the audience of 6.7 million that tuned in for the first instalment of this year’s reality-TV extravaganza at the end of last month (see Channel 4 Hits Ratings High With Friends And Big Brother).
However, Channel 4 was forced to take the live feed off-air late last night for more than an hour after security guards were sent into the house to break up a fight between contestants. Emma and Victor had to be dragged apart, the kitchen was damaged and body builder Jason threatened to kill law student Marco.
The picture was finally restored at 3.10am, revealing security guards in the garden apparently keeping the warring factions apart. Despite the contestants’ controversial behaviour, Channel 4 says it does not expect to receive any complaints when the late night action is screened on tonight’s show.
The latest series of Big Brother looks set to provide a much needed boost to Channel 4, which has recently seen some its its biggest ratings winners, such as Friends and Sex in the City, come to an end. However, the channel saw its average weekly share of viewing rise by 0.8% points during May to just over the 10% mark (see Digital Television Round-Up – May 2004).
Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.co.uk
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