MORE than 2.5 million viewers – double the usual audience – tuned into watch Jimmy Carr's TV game show after revelations he was a legal tax dodger.
The acid-tongued comic, a judge on Channel 4's 8 Out of 10 Cats, was taunted by his co-stars on Friday's show about his financial affairs.
But Carr had the last laugh, days after it emerged he had squirrelled £3.3 million through the K2 tax avoidance scheme set up by Kirkcaldy-based Peak Performance.
The viewing figures compared with 1.3 million before he made front-page headlines which led Prime Minister David Cameron to brand his actions in paying 1% tax as "morally wrong".
Carr's first stand-up act in Scotland since the admission is also a sell-out. Tickets costing £25 have been snapped up for his Gagging Orders tour at the Caird Hall in Dundee on Friday evening.
During the programme, team captain Sean Lock told Carr: "We all like to put a bit of money away for a rainy day, don't we? But I think you're more prepared than Noah.
"We can all now see why you work so hard – you get to keep all the money."
Carr replied: "I hate to sound like I'm passing the buck, but I'll tell you who I blame for this whole mess – me. It's entirely my fault."
The show was recorded on Thursday, the same day Carr admitted he had "made a terrible error of judgment" by using the K2 scheme. He has now ended his involvement in it.
Peak Performance accountant Roy Lyness told an undercover newspaper reporter it advises 1000 other clients.
The firm is run by secretary David Gill, who has his own accountancy firm, and Douglas Aitken out of a new two-storey office block.
Mr Cameron was also criticised for failing to also criticise Tory-supporting pop star, Gary Barlow, who has also been accused of sheltering from tax.
He said the Carr's use of it was a "particularly egregious example of an avoidance scheme that seemed to me to be wrong".
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