This one-off special was watched by 3.74 million, placing it at 23rd in the ITV-only charts that week.
This edition of the series is notably smuttier than in its 70s/80s heyday, where societal mores have changed in the interim. Always based around the suggestion of innuendo, the contestants instead sometimes write down more explicit things for the 5:30pm family audience, including Joe Lycett's "kangaroo testicles", and Lesley Joseph writing down the word "pussy", which is laboured on by the host.
This was Anne Robinson's third appearance on the programme, having previously made guest appearances in the versions hosted by Les Dawson Episode #11.18 (1988) and Lily Savage Episode #17.12 (2002).
David Walliams had appeared, after a fashion, on Blankety Blank before, taking part as a contestant in a special charity version hosted by Paul O'Grady as part of Comic Relief Special (2011). He also appeared in a Blankety Blank sketch in Comic Relief 2003: The Big Hair Do (2003), playing Ruth Madoc. In his 2012 autobiography "Camp David", he declared his performance "dismally unfunny".
In I'm About to Lose Control and I Think Joe Lycett (2018), Joe talked disparagingly about this Christmas Special, stating that "I'd just been on Blankety Blank with David Walliams, which, to be fair, was dog shit".