Naked women in Game of Thrones can actually turn viewers off, according to ratings.
Analysis of Game of Thrones' IMDB scores has revealed (oo-er) that episodes with nude scenes are rated lower than episodes with no naked women at all.
Across all five seasons of the HBO drama, episodes with no nude scenes achieved an average rating of 9.1 out of 10, while those with one nude scene got an average score of 8.94 and those with multiple nude scenes got an average of 8.87.
Other factors will affect an episode's popularity, of course, and nude scenes don't lead to low ratings from fans.
Emilia Clarke, who plays Mother of Dragons and slave-liberator Daenerys Targarye, had several nude scenes across season one and has recently called for more male nudity to make things more equal on-screen.
The issue came back into the media spotlight after Cersei Lannister's lengthy nude scene in the finale of season five.
There was a downward trend in female nudity in seasons one to four — season one featured 13 nude scenes, season two had 12, season three had 11 and season four had nine — less than one per episode.
Scenes featuring naked women in Game of Thrones
Examiner Data Unit
But season five reversed the trend, shooting the number of nude scenes back up to 13.
While female nudity can have a negative impact on an episode's IMDB rating, characters being killed off seems to have the opposite effect.
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In the four episodes so far where at least 20 people died, such as the episode featuring the Battle of Blackwater, battles on the Wall and the rise of the White Walkers in Hardhome , the IMDB rating climbed to 9.6 out of 10 compared to an average rating of 8.7 in episodes with five or fewer deaths.
The death of a major character makes an even bigger splash, with average ratings of 9.8 for those episodes.
Deaths in Game of Thrones
Washington Post
Figures compiled by the Washington Post show the death toll on Game of Thrones rising rapidly — 59 in season one, 130 in season two, 87 in season three, 182 in season four and a whopping 246 in season five.
Game of Thrones returns tonight at 9pm on Sky Atlantic.
Refresh your memory on what happened in season five with our episode-by-episode guide
