Celebrity Traitors season 2 episode 1 overnight ratings for BBC One revealed - and they're big

*Warning - contains spoilers for The Celebrity Traitors season 2 episode 1.*

The second season of The Celebrity Traitors kicked off with a hugely chaotic, dramatic episode, and there were plenty of viewers across the UK who tuned in to see it.

In fact, it has been reported that the first episode scored a huge overnight audience of 8.9 million viewers, which is nearly 3 million more than saw the premiere of The Celebrity Traitors season 1. It got a 55% share of viewership across all channels.

Meanwhile, The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked, which followed directly after the main episode, has an average viewership of 3.1 million.

The first episode saw Richard E Grant and Maya Jama being chosen as the first two Traitors, with the former almost upsetting the game entirely when he openly declared that he was a Traitor in a group full of Faithfuls.

Speaking about this twist moment, executive producer Sarah Fay told press including Radio Times: "It was a mixture of a little bit of sick coming up in my mouth and a punch at the same time. We've never had anything like that happen before. I mean, within five minutes of being out of the roundtable, he'd already mucked up!

"I still can't believe it now. But yeah, I mean, how iconic! And as producers, you always want to make sure the series are fresh and new. And we've been very lucky so far. We've just come back from filming our seventh series.

"We've just finished civilian, and every single series, luckily, the cast brings something completely different. But never in our wildest dreams did we think that we'd have a Traitor admit they were a Traitor five minutes after the roundtable."

Want to see this content?

This page contains content provided by Google reCAPTCHA. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Google reCAPTCHA may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow Google reCAPTCHA and its required purposes.

Meanwhile, the episode ended on a dramatic cliffhanger, as the Traitors summoned Amol Rajan and James Acaster to an in-person meeting, where they would choose one of them to recruit and one of them to murder.

The first season of The Celebrity Traitors was won by Alan Carr, with that run's finale episode being watched by an average of 11.1 million viewers overnight.

The Celebrity Traitors continues on Friday 2 October at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Add The Celebrity Traitors to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.

Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.

Authors

James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.