The final of The Celebrity Traitors has been thrown into chaos after the result was revealed to viewers overseas.
The climactic ninth episode of the hit show, which has attracted audiences of more than 12 million, was released on two streaming services in Canada and New Zealand on Wednesday evening before tonight’s broadcast on BBC1 at 9pm.
The episodes were quickly taken down from the streamers, Crave and ThreeNow, but not before the result began to be circulated among fans on social media.
Claudia Winkleman
BBC/STUDIO LAMBERT/EUAN CHERRY
The Times is choosing not to publish the name of the winner or winners, in line with other media outlets.
In the show, which was recorded earlier this year, the traitors Alan Carr and Cat Burns are hoping to remain undetected by the faithfuls Joe Marler, Nick Mohammed and David Olusoga, to win the prize pot for their chosen charity.
Over the eight episodes broadcast on the BBC so far, only one traitor, the TV presenter Jonathan Ross, has been banished from the Scottish castle.
Staff working on the show have been scrambling to ask fans on social media not to share the result to avoid spoiling it for others. “It has been like a game of whack-a-mole,” said one. “No one here wants to spoil the surprise but not everyone around the world feels the same.”
• How well do you know Celebrity Traitors? Take our quiz
The episode is understood to have been shown early in Canada and New Zealand due to a scheduling error by All3Media, the production company behind the show.
One of the biggest TV production groups in the country, it is responsible for producing and distributing hundreds of hours of programming every year including the BBC’s Race Across the World, Channel 4’s Gogglebox and Channel 5’s All Creatures Great and Small.
However, its error in mistakenly allowing the foreign streaming services to upload the final episode a day early has caused dismay among BBC executives.
• Cat Burns: ‘Traitors is the most fun game’
“They have massively dropped the ball,” said one person close to the show. “It’s ruined the build-up after everyone has worked so hard to keep it a secret.”
Even some of the celebrities who took part in the show do not know how it ends.
Earlier this week, the broadcaster Kate Garraway — who was eliminated after being banished from the show during the round table — said she was “very excited” about the final and would be tuning in “like the rest of the nation”.
Before tonight’s show, the BBC shared a short preview of the five stars preparing for the last round table of the series.
Claudia Winkleman, the host, is shown telling the group: “Players, this is it. For the final time then — the floor is yours.”
No other show this year has come close to matching either The Traitors or The Celebrity Traitors in terms of ratings.
It is extremely rare nowadays for any television programme, outside of sport, to attract an audience of 12 million or more. Just two shows achieved this benchmark last year on Christmas Day, the final episode of the comedy series Gavin & Stacey and the feature-length animation Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.
All3Media has been contacted for comment.
A spokesman for the BBC said: “We kindly ask anyone who thinks they know the outcome of The Celebrity Traitors to keep whatever they believe they know to themselves. Please avoid sharing potential spoilers so that the millions of fans who have been faithfully following every twist and turn of the series can enjoy the final this evening.”