ITV’s hope to turn former Doctor Who star David Tennant into one of their new faces has failed as his latest show has been one of the channel’s biggest rating flops in years.
The actor, 54, hosted Genius Game which cost ITV more than £2.5million to make.
Despite the channel investing in the former Time Lord, the viewing figures, which were released this week, showed only an average of 739,000 people tuned in.
BBC One’s Race Across the World on Wednesday and Channel 4 documentary, Madeleine McCann: The Unseen Evidence both thrashed the game show.
A television insider told The Sun: ‘The Genius Game was a reflection of ITV’s rush to create the next big challenge show following the huge success of The Traitors.
‘They chose Tennant as he’s such a household name, although his not-insubstantial fee also inflated the cost of making the programme. Yet despite pumping so much money into the show, it hasn’t delivered ratings wise.’
ITV’s hope to turn former Doctor Who star David Tennant into one of their new faces has failed as his new show has the biggest rating flop in years
The actor, 54, signed up and hosted Genius Game which cost ITV more than £2.5million to make
The prime-time reality game-show sees contestants compete in a series of mental challenges,
During the first show, Genius Game kicked off with an average of 1.2million watching but by episode two that had dramatically dropped to 846,000.
This week the ratings plummeted again and ITV have announced that it will be cutting the show from two episodes a week to one.
Meanwhile Race Across the World, which aired at the same time on BBC One, had an average rating of 3.3million.
A spokesperson for ITV has since said that Genius Game has gained extra viewers on catch-up on ITVX.
They said: ‘Genius Game remains in the peak schedule on ITV1 at 9pm on Wednesdays and is available to view on ITVX.
‘Episode one (shown on Wednesday, April 30) has so far consolidated with 1.9million viewers. Episode two is currently up to 1.3million.’
It comes after many viewers during the first episode took issue with the new programme and commented on how ‘complicated’ it seemed, with many not understanding the premise.
Despite the channel investing in the former Time Lord, the viewing figures, which were released this week, showed only an average of 739,000 people tuned in
Meanwhile BBC One’s Race Across the World on Wednesday and Channel 4 documentary, Madeleine McCann: The Unseen Evidence both thrashed the game show in viewers ratings
It comes after many viewers during the first episode took issue with the new programme and commented on how ‘complicated’ it seemed, with many not understanding the premise
Some took to social media to share their concerns and posted on X: ‘Just starting this. Seems very complicated. I’ll watch it out but not looking good tbh #GeniusGame.’
‘Still have no idea how this works #GeniusGame.’
Others said: ‘Sorry #GeniusGame it’s a no from me, way too complicated for that time of night, I need mindless entertainment after a busy day, ITV should’ve just extended #CBBUK instead.’
‘I didn’t understand the rules fully’ – Most relatable contestant ever.’
‘I’m struggling to understand. I’m clearly no genius, the rules on rules on rules are something else #GeniusGame.’
While others enjoyed the show, one wrote: ‘This was a really good premiere of #GeniusGame for ITV. I’m a bit wary that the general public can’t understand the games, but for me, it’s about smart people trying to outsmart their peers. And I loved it.’
Genius Game airs on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.
