[Cody™]

The finale of BBC1's The Apprentice drew an audience of 6.8m (27.4%) at 9pm as Channel 4's Big Brother struggled with just 2.1m (8.5%). But it was ITV1's blockbuster Britain's Got Talent which streaked ahead as its audience surged to 7.9m (33.9%) at 10pm.

The Apprentice was the most watched episode of the 12 part series and hit a peak of 7.4m (29%) in the final 15 minutes as Simon Ambrose was declared the winner.

Over the entire run The Apprentice has averaged a sizeable 5.5m (22.6%).

BBC2 also benefited as its spin-off show The Apprentice: You're Hired! gained an impressive 4.2m (18.4%) for half an hour.

While BBC1's The Apprentice was on air it was level-pegging with ITV1's Britain's Got Talent which over 90-minutes managed to average 7.1m (29.2%).

With both the two main channels performing strongly C4's reality show Big Brother suffered badly at 9pm with the 60-minute update of events bringing in just 2.1m (8.5%), the fifth lowest ever audience for a peaktime edition of the show.

C4's slot average for the year so far is 3.8m (16.4%).

The audience size will be particularly embarrassing for the broadcaster as Big Brother has been C4's consistently most popular show in recent years. Last night's edition also found itself in the embarrassing position of being easily outclassed by a natural history programme on BBC2.

The final edition of Natural World, which looked at the countryside along the river Wye, brought in 3.1m (12.6%) over 50-minutes. The ensuing 10-minute short The Rabbits of Skomer took 2.8m (11.2%).

Five's film Exit Wounds trailed the terrestrial pack with 1.5m (6.9%).

Snakes and ladders

To rub salt into Big Brother's wounds the channel's repeat of an episode of Property Ladder in the earlier slot of 8pm had more viewers than the reality show with 2.4m (10.5%).

Once again though C4 lost out to BBC2 which continued its Springwatch series. The corporation's 60-minute show, hosted by Bill Oddie and Kate Humble, gained a strong 3.6m (15.9%).

Top of the 8pm heap was The Bill on 5.6m (25%), comfortably ahead of BBC1's Traffic Cops on 5m (21.9%). Five struggled on 298,000 (1.2%) for Families at War.

All hours shares for Wednesday 13 June 2007: ITV1 – 23.2%, BBC1 – 22.4%, BBC2 – 9.6%, C4 – 8.6%, Five 4.8%, multichannel – 31.4%.

Peaktime (6pm to 10.30pm) shares: ITV1 – 29.5%, BBC1 – 23.3%, BBC2 – 11.7%, C4 – 8.1%, Five – 4%, multichannel – 23.3%.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broadc...StoryID=169526

[Emilee]

Oh well..... people who are fans of BB will watch. thats it.

[001steven]

yeha but thats this week what about next week i will always watch BB what ever the clash

[Matt]

It had such tough competition last night. I will allow it to fail this once.

[001steven]

exactly... the apprentice was in its final so fair game and BGT is a family show so .. i wouldnt say it was embarrasing for BB though

[Richie]

How long is this crappy Britain's Got Talent show running for?

[Matt]

The Apprentice is over now anyway and BGT finishes on Sunday so BB shouldn't be hammered much more.

[Ruth*Star]

It can't be perfect all a time, people will have been watching the apprentice and taping big brother.

[Amy21]

The ratings will pick stop worrying!!!!!!.

[001steven]

cant wait till that BGT S*** is over

[Wiglet]

I have watched The Aprentice right from the start and to miss the finale could not be done.

I'm sorry but that other program which bears not even a mention is a load of donkeys doodahs and a complete waste of time which is why Shabnam was on it (he he he).

BB will pick up but less of the pointless arguments and more good ones.

[Nath]

They should stick to one time, I keep missing BB because I think it's on at 10 and it's actually on at 9.

[Sam]

I watched the apprentice, i admit it, i find it more interesting, i taped BB though

[Matt]

Originally posted by Sam
I watched the apprentice, i admit it, i find it more interesting, i taped BB though

traitor!

[Richie]

Originally posted by Matt™

traitor!

Sam just leave.... now. You do not belong here any longer

I blame Carole for the very little viewers.

[Cody™]

lol.. i watched the apprentice instead too and watched BB online today. im sure BB will pick up from next week tho.

[easypeasy]

cant fault spring watch, its great tv.

[dupin]

I actually watched The Apprentice instead last night, I think it was obvious Big Brother would lose out as it was the final...

[Sarah.]

I watched Britains got talent. Will watch BB when it's finished however.

[vesavius]

Originally posted by Sam
I watched the apprentice, i admit it, i find it more interesting, i taped BB though

hehe thats cool, we forgive you

Of course BB had bad ratings last night, if you had asked me that 1 week ago I could have told you. Anyone could have told you.

The Apprentice is a huge show and tons of peeps follow it, which is cool and all. No way an regular BB was gonna compete. Throw in the latest X-Factor derivative and you have a nearly unassailable wall...

tbh, I couldnt care less about ratings... As long as BB makes a shed load of money it will carry on. The show will bring C4 over 15% of it's income this year... And thats from a 3 month run. No way it's going anywhere.

Saying that, C4 REALLY need to choose a slot for this and keep to it. People HATE being messed around like they have been doing.

We also need the Saturday night live task back, and an escape from the heavy seriousness that has dogged it recently with regards to racism etc. People don't wanna hear about that on their weekends.. they want to have some fun after a crappy week at work.

On that note... plz plz plz get SOMEONE in the house that has a real sense of humour and isnt trying to build a career on being an aggressive asshat. Laura was my early hope, but she has slid into nastiness really fast... Lesley was funny in a very civilised way, but she let me down by bailing... We need a *funny* HM to go in. Not a weird one, not a mardy one, not a gay one, not a beautiful one, but a FUNNY one. (It dosent hurt if they are any of those other things as wll tho!)

There just isnt any comedy in there this year.

I love BB, I won't lie, but really, lets not get into a tizzy about Cowell's silly attempt to start a flame war to hype his own show. The only reason he is trying to bring BB down is because he fears it so much.

Why else would he give a damn?

[GhettoSuperstar]

Sorry but The Apprentice deserved high ratings, it's amazing.

Last nights Big Brother was ace though.

[Bells]

I'm not really surprised, seeing as with a show like BB it's hard IMO to sustain the viewers' interests constantly. Additionally, people can find out information from the Internet, BBLB, BBBM plus links uploaded afterwards far more easily these days. For some, this works better because BB last night was on when a few other shows were. Shows like The Apprentice and Britain's Got Talent probably got more ratings because BB fans knew for a fact that it was continuing and they could perhaps catch up later.

[Callum]

I watched the Apprentice, but watched BB on demand today

[Amy]

What I want to know is why channel 4 changed the time! Can't they just keep the show at 10pm now and stop changing it all the time.. I missed it because I thought it was on at 10!!

[blinkinlovely]

Agree Amy

I'm all set for BB at 10; have thigs to watch at 9

I watched the Apprentice and taped BB