UK TV Ratings: Dramatic Banishment On ‘The Traitors’ Attracts Record Number Of Viewers

Max Goldbart

19 January 2024 at 5:23 am·1-min read

SPOILER ALERT: This story features details from episode eight of The Traitors.

The Traitors is gaining some serious momentum for the BBC.

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With just four episodes to go, yesterday’s dramatic banishment became comfortably the most-watched episode across both seasons as 4.4M viewers tuned in – up 400,000 on the previous night’s record.

Last season’s episodes were watched by around 3M average and steadily built through the run, but this year has been doing better. This week’s episodes are even up on the first season’s dramatic finale.

The Traitors, which is airing three episodes a week at 9 p.m. GMT (1 p.m. PT) and will conclude next Friday, was the most-watched TV show on UK screens on Thursday, beating the BBC News and ITV’s Emmerdale and watched by almost one-third of all people tuning in to TV at the time. All episodes become available on iPlayer after the show.

Last night’s episode saw Oscar-worthy villain Paul banished after what may have been the tensest roundtable yet, with fellow traitor Harry turning on Paul in dramatic fashion. As the show drew to a close, Harry and new traitor Andrew were making a final decision on who will be murdered next.

The Traitors is produced by All3Media-backed Squid Game: The Challenge maker Studio Lambert and the U.S. version has just kicked off on Peacock. Episode nine airs tonight.

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