As much as HBO likes to think you're settling in every Sunday night to watch Dexter, let's be honest: there are many who choose to watch the latest episode through… other means.

Dexter proved to be the most pirated television show of 2011, closely followed by Game of Thrones.

On TorrentFreak's list of the top 10 most pirated shows, Dexter was number one with over 3.6 million downloads. Game of Thrones wasn't far behind with 3.4 million - both shows are only available on premium pay networks like HBO. Yet what's most interesting about these two shows is that the number of downloads actually tops the number of estimated television viewers. The only other show on the list to have more downloads than estimated viewers is True Blood, another premium network title.

Other titles like Big Bang Theory, House and How I Met Your Mother, all in the top five, have far more U.S. TV viewers than they do illegal downloads. Here's the full list from TorrentFreak:

(Top photo from Reuters)