Celia Imrie’s Fart Helps Lift BBC’s ‘The Celebrity Traitors’ To Series High Rating

Warning: Spoilers ahead for the third episode of The Celebrity Traitors.

Celia Imrie has given a boost to The Celebrity Traitors’ ratings with an unforgettable on-screen moment.

The British actress, best known for her roles in Bridget Jones and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, delivered one of the year’s most talked-about TV moments when she accidentally passed wind before starting a challenge.

The audible mishap left her fellow contestants, including Dept. Q star Mark Bonnar, in fits of laughter. “I’m so sorry,” Imrie said. “It’s nerves, but I always own up.” It helped push The Celebrity Traitors’ ratings to a series high of 6.9 million viewers on Wednesday night, an increase of 900,000 compared to last week’s premiere episode.

While the strong numbers didn’t surpass The Traitors’ record-breaking overnight audience of 7.4 million on BBC One back in January, they indicate the show could soon top that milestone as the series progresses. Wednesday’s episode featured three eliminations and reached a five-minute peak audience of 7.1 million, according to official BARB data provided by overnights.tv.

The Celebrity Traitors has become a rare phenomenon, an appointment-to-view program that’s bringing audiences together across the nation. Its significance to the BBC is highlighted by the network’s decision to promote a range of other content ahead of each episode’s broadcast.

Produced by Studio Lambert, The Traitors has already completed three civilian seasons in the UK. The original format was created for RTL4 in the Netherlands by IDTV, an All3Media company, under the title De Verraders. It was developed by IDTV and Posvideo in collaboration with RTL Creative Unit.