When it was first announced that ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Love Island’ were being pitted against each other by launching on the same night, we had just one question: who would come out triumphant in the ratings battle?
Well, the results are in, and while ‘BB’ did manage to pull in more viewers with its series debut last night (5 June), Channel 5 probably shouldn’t be celebrating just yet.
As reported by Tellymix, the new series of ‘Love Island’ debuted with a respectable 1.25 million viewers, which is particularly impressive as this figure is almost double what last year’s series opener drew in.
Meanwhile ‘Big Brother’ pulled in 1.32 million viewers, and while this is higher than its reality rival, it also makes this year’s the lowest-watched launch in the show’s 17-year history.
Both shows kicked things off with plenty of drama, as ‘Love Island’ debuted this year’s initial couples.
It was bad news for contestant Montana Brown, though, as she was left without a partner thanks to the late introduction of Jessica Shears.
Jessica’s arrival in the villa was doubly shocking for Montana, as she quickly discovered that the two had briefly dated the same man at the same time.
Over on ‘Big Brother’, viewers cast their vote for the People’s Housemate, who will gain special privileges over the rest of his fellow contestants, including contact with the outside world.
However, some fans of the show were unimpressed by the large number of contestants who’d previously appeared on other reality shows, and the fact that two housemates let slip that they didn’t actually audition.
‘Love Island’ airs every night on ITV2, with ‘CBB’ airing nightly on Channel 5.