The comedian’s bombshell the previous night did provide the programme with a twist to spark it to life after what some viewers saw as a mid-series lull.
On Thursday, the Hollywood Reporter noted, external that the show had achieved record-breaking ratings – before asking: “Why, then, has much of the consensus on social media been that it’s all felt a bit dull?”
Some noted a shortage of true back-stabbing, double-crossing and explosive rows – the things, in other words, that viewers love the most – while the celebrities were more chummy and savvy than previous groups of castle dwellers.
And while there was no shortage of big characters, this season lacked an equivalent to Alan Carr, the hugely popular and apparently hapless comedian who lied and murdered his way to an unlikely victory as a traitor last year.
The drama ramped up in the final, though, and Friday’s episode is likely to have been the most watched TV programme of the year.
