Nigel Farage failed in his quest to win I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! last night as he finished third in the final of the ITV juggernaut, which saw viewing decline dramatically from last year’s closer.
Farage equalled former Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s finish last year, as ITV’s penchant for throwing controversial politicians into the jungle continued into 2023.
But the show lost a whopping 4M viewers from last year’s finale, tumbling to just 6.5M with a share of 42%, peaking with 7.5M. The show failed to even top the daily charts behind the BBC‘s Strictly Come Dancing results show. In 2022, 10.4M (54.2%) watched the final when footballer Jill Scott took home the crown. That ep peaked with 11.5M during a top-rated season. The launch of 2022 was also well up on 2023, by around 2M, although GB News producer Ben Leo accidentally tweeted otherwise three weeks ago.
This year’s ITV competition was won by Made in Chelsea star Sam Thompson, with former boxer Tony Bellew beating Farage to second place.
Farage has been in the limelight of British politics for more than two decades now and is reportedly mulling a return the front line, spurred on by his I’m a Celebrity success.
Elsewhere, the BBC returned to its most watched new drama of 2021 in Vigil, the Suranne Jones-starring fast-moving drama series from Line of Duty maker World Productions, but Season 2’s launch failed to catch fire.
As Jones moved from the sea to the skies in a new story about the RAF, the show was watched by around 3M, way down on the 5.4M who watched the Season 1 opener. It will likely add many more on catch up but was well shy of the BBC’s biggest drama of the year Happy Valley.