Big Brother Controversy Brings In 4.6 Million Viewers

Channel 4’s Big Brother pulled in an average of 4.6 million adult viewers last night, a 22.4% audience share, despite complaints regarding the latest twist in the Reality TV game show.

Last night viewers voted four ex-housemates back into the house next door, with one of them to be picked by current housemates to re-enter the proper Big Brother house for the last week of the competition.

Communications watchdog Ofcom received more than 1,000 complaints regarding this vote, with viewers saying that BB‘s latest move was unfair (see Complaints Over Returning Big Brother Contestants).

However, the programme gained the most viewers in the 9pm timeslot last night, followed closely by BBC One’s new drama Sorted, which has performed consistently well since it began (see New BBC One Drama Continues To Triumph). The programme took an almost 20% viewing share with 4.1 million adult viewers.

Arsenal FC’s Champion’s League victory on ITV1 drew an average of 2.7 million adult viewers between 8pm and 10pm, taking an almost 14% viewing share. Love Island continued to under-perform for ITV1 (see Strong Night For BBC One As Love Island Continues To Struggle), being watched by 1.9 million adult viewers (a 10% audience share) at 10pm, making it the least watched programme of all of the network channels at the time.

The BBC One News was the most watched programme at the time, followed by CSI: NY on Five with just over 1.9 million adult viewers (an 11.4% audience share). Grumpy Old Holidays on BBC Two was watched by an average of just over two million adult viewers (11%) while Lost on Channel 4 gained 1.8 million adult viewers (an almost 11% share).

The second instalment of Love Island managed 1.5 million adult viewers for ITV1, a 14.5% audience share, compared to BBC One’s re-run of an episode of Men Behaving Badly, which gained a 17.6% audience share with more than 1.8 million adult viewers in its 11pm timeslot.

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