LOW BLOW
Fresh blow for David Tennant as he’s slammed by former co-star after Genius Game becomes ITV’s ‘most expensive flop in years’
The game show's average ratings haven't justified the high production costs
DAVID Tennant has been dealt another blow after his ITV show Genius Game became the channel’s ‘most expensive flop in years’.
The game show host has been slammed by a former colleague who dubbed him one of three of ‘the most dislikable’ people he had ever spent time with.
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Michael O'Bernicia claims he worked with David Tennant on the British detective series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) in the early 2000's.
And he has had some choice words to say about the 54-year-old.
Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter), Michael retweeted a post which revealed the news about ITV taking action on David's show due to poor viewer ratings.
Replying to the post, he savagely wrote: “Having shared a car journey with him before he was famous, when we were both working on Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) 25 years ago.
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“I have no hesitation in saying that he is one of the three most dislikable people I have ever had the misfortune to spend time with.”
Michael’s brutal blow comes after Genius Game, hosted by the former Doctor Who star received subpar viewing figures.
This week the show, which cost more than £2.5million to make, plunged to measly average of 739,000 in ratings.
It was thrashed by BBC One’s Race Across the World on Wednesday and beaten on Channel 4 by The Sun’s documentary, Madeleine McCann: The Unseen Evidence.
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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.”
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In the prime-time reality gameshow, contestants compete in a series of mental challenges.
Episode one kicked off with an average of 1.2million watching but by episode two that had slumped to 846,000.
ITV has also decided to cut the number of episodes airing each week from two to one.
Bosses had pointed out the show was getting extra viewers on catch-up service ITVX.
A spokesman 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.”
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