I’m A Celebrity ratings plummet yet again with a loss of over HALF A MILLION

I’m A Celebrity ratings plummeted once again on Thursday night, with a fall of a whopping 553,000 viewers on the previous evening. 

Analysis of the evening’s viewing figures showed an average of 4.6m tuned in to watch the show, which was a drastic fall on Wednesday night’s 5.16m viewers. 

The peak figure on Thursday meanwhile saw 5.46m tuning in, compared to 5.12m on Wednesday – spelling out a drop of 340,00 viewers for peak numbers.

The dwindling figures, which have been on a continuous decline throughout the week, come in the wake of Storm Arwen, which forced the ITV show off air on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, much to fury of viewers at home.

Despite the fall in figures, the show remains the most watched of the evening, with a 30.6% share of viewers in its timeslot. 

Thursday night’s episode sparked conversation online after Frankie Bridge broke down in tears and was shaking violently after competing in a gruelling trial.

The Saturdays singer, 32, took part in Scary-oke with fellow campmate Naughty Boy where they were pelted with gunge and had to drink disgusting concoctions.

Frankie found the trial challenging due to her fear of vomiting and was shuddering with the cold, prompting some viewers to claim that the trial had ‘gone too far’.

Others commented that it was ‘disturbing to watch’ after she had to be given a towel to stay warm when hosts Ant and Dec became worried by her shaking. 

Returning to camp afterwards Frankie broke down in tears and told Louise Minchin: ‘It was absolute nightmare. We had to drink stuff and it was so hard.

‘I wanted to quit after the third drink, the thing that kept me going was Naughty who had won lots of trials. This might have been a push too far though. I just wanted to come back and give you a hug I really did.’

The comparison between Thursday and Wednesday’s figures, come after yet another drop was noted between Wednesday and Tuesday.   

Overnight ratings for the Wednesday 1 December episode showed that 5.16m fans tuned in –  a drop from the average of 5.44m that watched the previous night.  

The viewership so far in the 2021 series pales in comparison to the ratings series 18 in 2018 – won by Harry Redknapp – which averaged a whopping 12.14m.

Series three in 2004 also proved a hit with audiences with 11.02 million viewers when Kerry Katona became queen of the jungle and Katie Price and Peter Andre started their fiery romance.

Also topping the charts with 11.14 million viewers was series 13 in 2013 when Westlife’s Kian Egan scooped the crown and Joey Essex famously asked if his water canister was a ‘man bag’. 

Series seven was a particularly bad year for I’m A Celeb viewer stats as only 7.45 million fans on average tuned into the show. 

Christopher Biggins charmed audiences to storm to victory in 2007’s flop series, with Katie Hopkins shocking viewers with her typically controversial comments. 

The last two series of I’m A Celeb have been filmed in the 200-year-old Gwrych Castle in Abergele, North Wales.

Stars have been forced to endure freezing 8°C cold temperatures and no protection from the elements after bosses shelled out £1 million to secure use of the site when production was forced to be relocated from Australia due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

And while the Welsh setting charmed captive audiences in lockdown during the popular 2020 series, it appears to be failing to peak the same interest this year.  

MailOnline contacted I’m A Celeb representatives regarding the figures on Friday, who said: ‘The launch audience for I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! has so far risen to a peak of 11.3 million viewers, according to the latest available consolidated data.’ 

Taking into account on demand viewers, they added: ‘This represents a 2.3 million increase since the overnight peak audience, when catch up viewing so far is taken into account, showing that viewers are also catching at their own convenience after the main broadcast.’ 

They continued: ‘The full 7 day consolidated data for the launch will be available next Monday, however, based on currently available part consolidated data and Hub viewing, the average audience across the 100 minute opening episode has so far risen to nearly 10 million viewers.’ 

It comes after the ITV show was forced off air for three nights after the extreme weather in Wales caused technical damage on set and meant the celebrities had to be removed from their camp and returned to quarantine. 

Addressing the show’s return at the start of the programme, Dec quipped: ‘Hello! It’s been a crazy few days but the castle is back in business and the storm clouds have almost cleared on I’m A Celebrity!’  

Ant then added: ‘It feels so good to be back, we haven’t been with you since Friday as it caused a lot of damage the storm did. The castle was fine though, it turns out these places are built to last! We were working hard to get the show back up, and the team did an incredible job.’

Meanwhile, with meals at stake after a weekend in the relative comfort of central heated isolation away from the makeshift camp, Arlene and Kadeena joined forces for the ominously named Bed Chamber Of Chills for Tuesday’s trial.

After their fellow campmates decided amongst themselves that Kadeena and Arlene would compete for stars in the latest trial, the two set off to meet hosts Ant and Dec.

They soon discovered that they would be hopping onto a bunkbed before being plunged into darkness to secure coveted stars as snakes slithered over them.

However despite the scary trial, viewers were left underwhelmed with the show, branding it boring, while others even switched off entirely after complaining it was only five minuted longer than a normal episode after an entire three shows were missed.

‘It’s just not the same as the jungle. Huge disappointment,’ one fan fumed, while another wrote: ‘I’m A Celeb 2021 is officially dead.’

Another complained: ‘I don’t know why they bothered carrying on with this series. It’s so boring.’

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