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The 5 biggest TV flops that lost millions of pounds after abysmal ratings from confusing gameshow to doomed soap
Take a look at those shows that rarely earned a re-commission
WHILE many telly shows have fans hooked, a handful falter at the first episode.
As programmes such as The Traitors gain a mass following - with a demand that's so strong it's sparked a celebrity spin-off - others have viewers reaching for the remote to switch series' within seconds.
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Here we take a look at the programmes that ended up on television's scrap heap - and which left fans boycotting them in their droves.
GENIUS GAME
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David Tennant's new programme, Genius Game, has been hailed "ITV's most expensive flop in years."
Genius Game, hosted by the former Doctor Who star, received subpar viewing figures on its launch.
Recently the show, which cost more than £2.5million to make, plunged to measly average of 739,000 in ratings.
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It was thrashed by BBC One’s Race Across the World last Wednesday and beaten on Channel 4 by The Sun’s documentary, Madeleine McCann: The Unseen Evidence.
A television insider said: “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.”
DISTRACTION
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Distraction was a short-lived game show, fronted by Jimmy Carr.
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It aired on Comedy Central from 2003 to 2004 and kicked off with four contestants, who tackled a series of challenges.
The UK version was the flagship, but it was cancelled after two series.
Mortified Alex Jones apologises to David Tennant on The One Show after he calls her out for dropping huge spoiler
One game show hopeful even claimed they were forced to drink their own urine in a scene which never made it to screen.
NAKED JUNGLE
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This was a one-off show, which was never recommissioned.
It was even voted "one of the worst British television programmes ever" by a Radio Times poll in 2006.
Latest TV Show Axings
All of the shows we've said goodbye to this year:
- The Masked Dancer, ITV
- Scarlett Moffatt's Driving School, BBC
- The Lazarus Project, Sky
- Better, BBC
- Dance Monsters, Netflix
- Laura Whitmore & Oti Mabuse's weekend shows, ITV
- Ross Kemp's 72 Hours In..., Channel 5
- Rise and Fall, Channel 4
- Dead Boy Detectives, Netflix
- Celeb Cooking School, E4
- The Grand Tour, Prime Video
- James May's Our Man In, Prime Video
- Ninja Warrior UK, ITV
- The Gathering, Channel 4
- Kaos, Netflix
Back in 2000, Keith Chegwin hosted the only series of the assault course game show based on children’s show Jungle Run.
All the contestants were nudists and even Keith dropped his drawers for the occasion.
SHAFTED
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Although Robert Kilroy-Silk’s television career lasted across decades, the ill-judged 2001 quiz show Shafted did not.
The programme asked contenders to either share their winnings with their competitors or shaft them to take it all.
If both contestants chose to shaft each other, both left with nothing.
The 2001 series was given the boot after just four episodes on ITV in the November of that year.
24HR QUIZ
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This failed quiz show was hosted by Barry from EastEnders, otherwise actor Shaun Wallace.
ITV’s first ever reality meets quiz show had three broadcasts throughout weekdays.
The show’s creator - Pointless’s - admitted: “It didn’t really work.”
It was broadcast between February and April 2004.
DON'T SCARE THE HARE
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Narrated by Sue Perkins and hosted by Jason Bradbury, Don’t Scare The Hare was a trippy game show on BBC One in 2011.
Players had to complete forest-themed games without rousing a giant animatronic rabbit for £15,000.
After ratings remained low, BBC's entertainment controller Mark Linsey said: "Obviously Hare is not going well.
"It was a huge risk we took – it’s co-hosted by an animatronic hare – and while it’s proved successful with children, we were hoping there would be enough knowingness within the show to draw in the adults.
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“There wasn’t enough of that, which is where it fell down."
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