Big Brother Hijack finale pulls in 725,000 viewers

LONDON - The finale of 'Big Brother Celebrity Hijack' pulled in a modest 725,000 viewers last night, cementing E4's status as the most watched digital channel during peak viewing this year.

Last night's episode, which aired between 8.30pm and 10.30pm, attracted an audience share of 3.5%, according to unofficial overnight figures.

The audience peaked at 9.30pm with 878,000 viewers, beating the E4 slot average of 333,000 viewers during peak viewing.

The Virgin Mobile-sponsored series featured 12 "talented" contestants competing for the £50,000 prize in a marked departure from previous 'Big Brother' formats. Housemates ranged from a conceptual artist, to a boxer, violinist and racing driver.

The house was "hijacked" by celebrities who controlled the housemates' actions. In the first programme, 'Little Britain' comedian Matt Lucas took the role of Big Brother.

John Loughton, a 20-year-old politician from Edinburgh, won the series with 54% of the vote, beating 18-year old circus performer Emilia Arata.

The series has catapulted E4 to the top of the digital channel tree, with 4.46% of peak viewing, trailed by BBC Three's 3.13%, ITV2's 2.7% and Dave's 2.46%.

'Big Brother Celebrity Hijack's' top performing episode brought in 1.9m viewers, for the half hour E4-only continuation of Channel4/E4 simulcast launch programme on January 3.

A Channel 4 spokeswoman said: "'Big Brother Celebrity Hijack' has been one of the most successful original commissions for E4.

"It is the first time one of the terrestrial channels has stripped a reality show across the schedule of a digital sister channel, without the prop of a core channel show to drive audience. In this context, the ratings performance is strong."

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