The Challenge Australia has been axed from Channel 10 because of its low viewership numbers. As of next week, the show will be available exclusively through the streaming channel, 10 Shake.
Just last week, The Challenge Australia was bumped from its usual Monday and Tuesday 7:30pm timeslot. It was moved back to 8:30, with a double episode airing on Monday, and no episode on Tuesday.
Although the cast of The Challenge Australia reads like a who’s who in Australian reality TV, the ratings for the show have been dismal. It hit a season-low of just 136,000 city metro viewers last Tuesday night, down 60,000 viewers from the premiere. However, the numbers got even worse this week, with the double episode receiving just 96,000 and 72,000 viewers (5 city metro) respectively, according to TV Black Box.
Drama series FBI: Most Wanted will replace the series on Channel 10 on Monday night and Ambulance Australia has replaced it on Tuesday nights.
The Challenge is a hugely popular British reality show that originated in the UK and has spawned 37 seasons. It regularly features reality stars from both the UK and the US and sees the cast members compete against each other in gruelling and physical challenges.
The Australian version of the show has a slightly different format from the original version. The series, titled The Challenge: War of the Worlds, will see four separate countries – Australia, the UK, the US and Argentina – run their own versions of the show, which is known as The Challenge (part one). The winners from the local series will compete against the other countries in The Challenge (part two) to determine the winner.
So far, Cyrell Paule, Johnny Estoe, David Subritzky, Ryan Gallagher, Jessica Brody, Jack Vidgen, Audrey Kanongara, Suzan Mutesi, Sugar Neekz Johnson, and Billy Dib have all been eliminated from the reality show. Brittany Hockley, Brooke Blurton, Ciarran Stott , Konrad Bien-Stephen, Megan Marx, Kiki Morris, Brooke Jowett, Emily Seebohm, Marley Biyendolo, Conor Curran, Grant Crapp and Troy Cullen all currently remain in the running to win The Challenge Australia.
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