Brits snub ITV election debate with just 4.8m viewers – down 2m on 2019 – tuning in for Sunak vs Starmer clash – and two-thirds of those who did watch brand it ‘frustrating’… while Nigel Farage channels Eminem to gloat ‘it feels so empty without me’
Millions of Britons rejected last night’s TV election debate Rishi Sunak and sir Keir Starmeras shown by viewing figures.
The showdown between the Prime Minister and Work primetime leader ITV was watched by an average of just 4.8 million viewers, peaking at 5.2 million viewers.
This was less than the average audience of 6.7 million for the ITV debate between Boris Johnson And Jeremy Corbyn during the 2019 general elections.
A snap YouGov poll found that almost two-thirds of people who watched last night’s clash between Mr Sunak and Sir Keir called it ‘frustrating’.
During the debate, both party leaders repeatedly spoke over each other in testy exchanges as ITV presenter Julie Etchingham struggled to keep them in check.
In the meantime, Nigel Farage channeled Eminem as he gloated that last night’s debate “feels so empty without me.”
Last night’s ITV debate between Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak was watched by an average of just 4.8 million viewers, peaking at 5.2 million viewers
This was less than the average audience of 6.7 million for the ITV debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn during the 2019 general election
After the debate ended, Mr Farage shared a video of himself during the election campaign, performing the Eminem song ‘Without Me’.
A snap YouGov poll found that almost two-thirds of people who watched last night’s clash between Mr Sunak and Sir Keir called it ‘frustrating’.
According to the YouGov survey of 1,657 debate viewers, conducted last night, 62 percent described it as ‘frustrating’.
This compared to 42 percent who said it was “interesting,” 32 percent who called it “vague,” and just 4 percent who agreed it was “authentic.”
Midway through last night’s debate, Farage claimed he had found ‘something more interesting to watch than Sunak versus Starmer’ and posted a video of fresh paint drying.
In another social media post after the debate ended, the newly installed leader of Reform UK shared a video of himself during the general election campaign.
The footage is set to the Eminem song “Without Me,” with the lyrics: “Now this seems like a job for me, so everyone follow me ’cause we need a little controversy ’cause it feels so empty without me.”
Mr Farage vowed to be a ‘bloody nuisance’ at Westminster yesterday as he launched his bid to be elected MP for Clacton.
He warned the Tories they would have to ‘pay a heavy price’ for betraying Brexit promises and suggested a ‘section’ of Conservatives could join the reforms.
It came after the former UKIP leader on Monday reversed his earlier suggestion that he would not stand as a candidate in this general election.
He has now chosen to fight in Clacton and has been installed as reform leader in Richard Tice’s place.
Ahead of the 2010 general election, the first time TV election debates took place in Britain, an average of 9.4 million viewers tuned in to watch a three-way clash between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
Viewership peaked at 10.3 million people during Britain’s first ever television leaders’ debate.
