Saatchi & Saatchi has unveiled the answer to Waitrose intriguing Christmas mystery, who stole the Christmas dessert, with a reveal of the pudding pilferer as Steve is caught red velvet handed.

The campaign, Sweet Suspicion, A Waitrose Mystery, has so far amassed over 150m views across social, TV and digital channels, making part one Waitrose’s biggest ever Christmas campaign, ranking Number One on YouTube’s Christmas Ad Leaderboard. Supported by a series of polls on Waitrose.comand Waitrose social channels, customers ranked Fig the Cat (18%) the top suspect, followed closely by Gamma (17%) and May (15%) with the least suspicious being the (guilty) devoted cook – Steve (8%). 

Saatchi & Saatchi’s two-part festive mystery had food lovers up and down the country wondering who out of its star-studded cast – including Matthew Macfadyen, Joe Wilkinson, Rakhee Thakrar, Sian Clifford, Dustin Demri-Burns and Eryl Maynard – could be responsible for the fridge theft since the first episode went live earlier in November. 

Nathan Ansell, customer director at Waitrose, commented, “The last few weeks have been filled with suspicion, guessing and alibis. Customers and Partners alike have been getting into the ‘whodunnit’ spirit, from wearing the ad t-shirts in store with their predictions of who the culprit is, we’ve also seen huge engagement on social media polls and I’ve even had customers getting in touch with their own detailed theories and pictures. I can’t wait for everyone to find out who did it! So here’s to celebrating with some amazing GOOD food and seeing the surprise or smug looks on everyone’s faces.”

Joe Wilkinson, who plays the part of Uncle Phil, stated, “I’ve been getting accused left right and centre so I’m glad the public now knows that it WASN’T ME.”

Dustin Demri-Burns, who plays food lover, Steve, added, “I can fully empathise with Steve and his pud-thieving ways. The pressure of making Christmas wonderful can get to us all – sometimes we just want to eat our pudding in the shed and that’s ok.”

Franki Goodwin, chief creative officer at Saatchi & Saatchi, noted, “The response to Sweet Suspicion Part 1 has been immense. We’ve imbibed the internet gleefully every day since launch as the whole nation has been speculating. It’s been especially fun to watch as all the other brilliant pieces of this campaign have come to life – from the partner T-shirts in stores to the celebrity sleuths, with all of our alibi content being as richly enjoyed as the main ad. So here it is… the big reveal. And to quote a guilty pudding scoffer, ‘It’s really good’.”

The culprit was revealed on November 26, during the Great British Bake Off, Channel 4 –  20:15 and in I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, ITV – 21:15.

Fun stats: *Survey on Waitrose.com of over 18,000 customers

• Fig the cat – 18%
• Gamma – 17%
• May – 15%
• The Detective David – 13%
• Sonny & Naya – 11%
• Samira – 9%
• Uncle Phil – 9%
• Steve 8%
• TOTAL – 92% wrong

Total Waitrose Christmas Campaign Results

• #1 on YouTube Christmas Leaderboard with 9.9m Views to 22/11
• System1 Star rating of 5.9 (the highest possible score) for the 30s Launch ad among our target audience