Big Brother Finale Gives C4 Largest Ever Friday Night Audience

As Big Brother’s media circus winds down and its former contestants prepare to sell themselves to the highest bidder, Channel 4 has revealed the audience figures which prove that while it was “only a gameshow” the programme was even better news for Michael Jackson than England beating the Windies for the first time in over 30 years.

Friday’s final reckoning was broadcast in two programmes, which turned out to be C4’s best rated programmes of the year so far, and its best ever Friday night ratings. The earlier, 8.30-9.30pm slot, which saw Dippy-Designer-Trainers Darren evicted, attracted an average of 7.5m viewers, representing a 30.8% share, and peaked at 8.2m or 33.4% share.

The later programme went out between 10.30 and 11.35pm, and revealed that Unexpectedly-Charitable-Scouser Craig had beaten Musical-Lesbian-Ex-Nun Anna to the dosh by a mere 2% of audience vote. This gained an average of 9m viewers, or 46.5% audience share, peaking at 10m viewers, or 56.5% audience share.

In the same way that viewing figures increased during the programme’s ten week run (see Big Brother Is Watching Audience Figures Go Up), so enthusiasm for eviction voting increased as the contestants moved closer to winning. Even the most ardent Mel-hater had to feel a little sorry for the girl who emerged from the house to discover that 69% of 3.2m phone voters- the highest number of phone voters yet recorded in the UK- wanted her off their screens just over a week ago. But if Mel’s ego need massaging, Craig’s will need a severe kicking if he’s to retain any friends at all, after that record was smashed the following week and 7m viewers rang in to vote on the final outcome…and 51% preferred the scouser.

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