Shahs Of Sunset Premiere Crushes, Potentially Due To A Giveaway

It looks like Bravo’s Persian American reality series, Shahs of Sunset, is finally catching on. I’d like to say this is due to SNL’s impression of the series, which popped up in a fictional Watch What Happens Live interview on the sketch comedy show, but, of course, there’s no scientific basis for my supposition. A giveaway may also have contributed to the high numbers; regardless, whatever the reason, Shahs of Sunset crushed in the ratings during its Season 2 premiere.

Shahs of Sunset slowly increased its ratings during Season 1, but the Season 2 premiere was up 50% in total viewers from the show’s April 15 finale and up 106% in total viewers from the reality series’ premiere. According to Deadline, the series, which follows a group of friends living in Beverly Hills, pulled in 2.3 million total viewers during Sunday’s Season 2 premiere. If that wasn’t enough, the Ryan Seacrest-produced show also crushed in the coveted 18-49 demographic.

In the 18-49 demographic, the show pulled in 1.4 million viewers, which gave the Bravo show it’s best rating ever. Hopefully, the numbers will continue to increase rapidly for Bravo’s reality show. Then again, the series gave out a gold bar worth $5,000 to a lucky winner last night, so perhaps that's actually what contributed to the additional numbers. We’ll have to see if those ratings stay high after Shahs of Sunset returns this weekend.

Bravo’s Shahs of Sunset airs on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.