The Traitors' fans are happy when 'Queen' Diane barely survives the first murder: 'She is ready to avenge Aubrey's death!'

Traitors viewers couldn't contain their joy during Thursday's episode when fan favorite Diane Carson survived the dreaded first murder of the series.

The retired teacher has already earned an army of fans with her no-nonsense take on the other Faithfuls.

Although Diane caused some debate among The Traitors, she was not claimed as their first victim, with Ash Bibi, Paul Gorton, Miles Asteri and Harry Clark choosing to eliminate Aubrey Emerson.

Viewers were delighted when Diane went to breakfast the next morning, with one person quickly declaring that she was determined to 'avenge Aubrey's death'.

One tweeted: “Thank God Diane survived, she's too much of a queen to leave anymore,” while another added: “I see Diane is safe but we are losing Aubrey.”

The retired teacher has already earned an army of fans with her no-nonsense take on the other Faithfuls

One viewer declared: “DIANE NOT KILLED WE WON OMG,” while someone added: “Diane ready to avenge Aubrey's death.”

Thursday's episode revealed that Aubrey Emerson was the first victim claimed by the four traitors after they noticed he already “had suspicions” about who might be hiding in one of the sinister cloaks.

The second episode also revealed that Miles Asteri was chosen as the fourth traitor, joining forces with the group to decide which participant to kill.

While the group debated whether to choose Diane Carson or Sonja, they ultimately chose Aubre.

Miles noted, “Aubrey is watching from a distance, he's been in the game plan since day one,” and Harry agreed, “This is what we don't want, the separate groups.”

“The message we should try to send is that no one is safe. I don't think anyone would suspect us of saying Aubrey, which would take him out of our minds.”

When Aubrey received the letter informing him that he had been killed, he said, “I think I was killed because I was too observant, I was a threat to The Traitors and they could see it. If I say what I see, they have made a big mistake.'

It comes after the opening episode attracted a whopping 3.1 million viewers when it returned to the BBC on Wednesday evening.

Viewers were delighted when Diane went to breakfast the next morning, with one quickly declaring that she was determined to 'avenge Aubrey's death'.

Thursday's episode revealed that Aubrey Emerson was the first victim claimed by the Four Traitors after they noted that he already 'had his suspicions'

The show, which aired from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., peaked with about 3.1 million viewers, according to data from overnights.tv.

The numbers are likely to rise further on iPlayer in the coming days as many who watched live could have instead tuned in to watch the PDC World Darts Championship featuring phenom Luke Littler.

It's a significant increase on viewership of last year's opening episode, which attracted 2.9 million viewers.

The opening episode of series two also received the second highest rating to date for the show overall – only slightly behind the series one finale.

That finale was watched by 3.3 million people as the show came to a dramatic conclusion.

The highly anticipated series returned to screens on Wednesday evening with Claudia Winkleman as presenter for a second series.

Fans were already in an uproar after having to choose what to watch between The Traitors and the World Darts Championship final.

The Traitors continues on Friday at 9pm on BBC One. The third episode can already be viewed on BBC iPlayer.