'Sister Wives' Season 11 Premiere Sets High Marks in Ratings
Sister Wives Season 11 premiered on Sunday, Sept. 11 and the season debut set some high marks in ratings. According to Variety, the season premiere was the show's highest opener in six years. Citing Nielsen data, the outlet noted that Episode 1 of Sister Wives Season 11 "averaged 2.2 million total viewers and a 1.42 rating among women ages 18-49, which is a crucial demographic for the show's network, TLC.
Additionally, the Season 11 debut brought in a 1.91 rating among women ages 25-54, another key TLC market. According to the network, on the Sunday night that the new season debuted, "tweet volume saw triple-digit growth compared to the previous premiere," reportedly growing nearly 200 percent. Notably, Sister Wives was also the top primetime cable reality program discussed and engaged with on Facebook. It was also the No. 3 most interacted-with show on Instagram and the No. 4 on Twitter.
Much of the interest in the new season of Sister Wives likely revolves around the separation of Christine and Kody Brown, which was revealed ahead of the new episodes. Christine was Kody's third wife and, in a pre-season reveal, she was heard calling her estranged husband "cowardly" and saying that he needs to "man the f— up." In an exclusive clip, shared by Entertainment Tonight, the now-former couple are seen having a face-to-face argument over their relationship. "Why are you insisting on holding onto me? This isn't working, Kody. You said it wasn't working too," Christine says to Kody at one point during the conversation.
She continues, "You said you were not interested in me. You weren't interested in a sexual marriage with me. You said, 'People survive for years without having an intimate marriage.' You said that." Kody then replies, "You're blaming me for me being turned off by your behavior."
In a confessional interview, separate from her heated conversation with Kody, Christine really let out her feelings, saying, "We've been married for 25 years. I've known you for almost 30 years. Don't insult me, tell me straight up. If you don't want to be married to me anymore, you don't want to have an intimate marriage with me anymore, flipping tell me. It is cowardly. Man the f— up, come on." Sister Wives Season 11 airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC and is also available to stream on Discovery+.