Dermot’O’Leary’s motoring show scrapped by BBC after dismal ratings
The Getaway Car has been one of many flops for the X Factor presenter
IT’S no wonder DERMOT O’LEARY has crawled back to The X Factor after a year off.
Anything he stars in outside of SIMON COWELL’s talent show ends up a flop.
I’ve learned Dermot’s latest show The Getaway Car, which he fronted with Top Gear’s The Stig, below, has been given the boot by Beeb bosses due to dismal ratings.
Its failure is the latest in a long line of telly disasters for Dermot.
He also hosted ITV’s The Marriage Ref in 2011, BBC’s Dermot Meets in 2010 and Channel 4’s Live From Space in 2014, which were all axed after one series.
The Getaway Car was billed as the ultimate Saturday night entertainent show but drew in just 2.4million viewers, well below the average 5.6million for the 6pm Saturday night slot.
A second series, which was filmed at the same time as the flop first run, will air this summer but the BBC will not film a third.
A source revealed: “There were high hopes for The Getaway Car but it just didn’t get the ratings and is deemed not good enough for Saturday nights.
“There’s a huge shake-up after the BBC lost The Voice to ITV and bosses want new shows to compete with ITV on a Saturday night.
“Although they will show another series from footage filmed last year, there are no plans to film new episodes.”
The Getaway Car was shown on Saturdays before The Voice.
Now GARY BARLOW’s new talent show Let It Shine will fill The Voice’s prime-time slot and producers are looking for something more exciting than Dermot’s show to lead into the TAKE THAT star’s programme.
A spokesman for the BBC said: “No official decision has been made on whether the show will be recommissioned.”
Dermot had spent much of his time slagging off The X Factor after he left the show last year.
He even said Simon should “take it off the air”.
Enough of your shows have been taken off the air already, Dermot.
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