Gladiators

Yeah 10 need to think about airing something that appeals to a completely different audience than sport next year. Something more younger or female skewed. The Bachelors felt a suitable alternative but when they had it there the format was already on it’s last legs.

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I’d say I’m A Celebrity largely worked, depsite launching earlier and earlier almost on NY, but appears permanently moved to survey now for Q1?

Ideally it would be good to try something new to the right demographic in the slot but otherwise I’d even suggest that they consider pushing forward Australian Survivor to kick off the year, especially given there are 2 seasons planned next year. I think the earlier it starts and finishes the better. It would give a bit more breathing space if there is a second season airing later in the year.

I know it risks hurting one of the formats that is working for them but I think a lot of it’s loyal fanbase would still go for it. They could also get away airing it just a couple nights a week during the AO and pair it with some sort of variety show the other nights - a gameshow (don’t they have Wheel of Fortune in the bank?) or panel type show the other nights (something new or I wonder if Working dog would consider pre-filming a few HYBPA/TGYH themed specials or something).

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Unfortunately id be out because at 3 episodes a week trying to play catch up with tennis on i just wouldnt bother. Thays why celeb worked. You could miss episodes and it wouldnt mess with when you tuned in next. Whereas with survivor, you need to kind of see each episode, or at least the majority.
They need to find a show thats safe for people to tune out for one night and come back the next.
Like even masterchef junior or celeb style show (obviously 3 masterchefs in a year would be overkill but you get my drift)

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It’s official now.

The broadcaster confirmed to C21 its much-publicised adaptation of retro action gameshow format Gladiators will not be renewed.

A representative for the broadcaster said: “Network 10 loves trying innovative things and although Gladiators was promoted, publicised and marketed heavily and hosts Beau and Liz, along with the Gladiators, did a stellar job, it just didn’t resonate with audiences. It won’t be returning in 2025.”

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Zero surprise.

Respect for 10 bothering to confirm this, networks usually don’t bother to comment.

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True

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Ten should be ashamed of themselves. Blaming the audiences, lol.

I wish Seven would buy the rights and bring it back for 2025. They would do it justice and get the ratings.

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Ten should buy the rights to the UK version and air it on Saturday nights!

Booking an actual audience for the arena would’ve been a good start, but the problems went far beyond that. A quote from Ten on TV Tonight:

The competition not changing (the same four games in a different order) didn’t help either

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The launch figure showed the interest was there, the episode 2 figure showed the product wasn’t up to scratch.

I think it was less of a format issue and more of a timing and network issue. If “Gladiators” was revived by Nine or Seven instead of 10, it would probably have survived, as both networks have produced and had success with not only “Gladiators” itself but also “Australian Spartan” and “Ninja Warrior.”

10 saw “Gladiators” as a form of ‘sport’ rather than a reality show and treated it as such, which led to its downfall.

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Success and Australian Spartan are two different things: Bachelor boosts TEN as Spartan sinks lower | TV Tonight

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Citation Needed

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The first revival of Gladiators in 2008 on Seven was not a success and only lasted one season. Australian Spartan was a big flop.

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Exactly - this idea the problem was it was on Ten really is nonsense. Seven have probably had more flop revivials than they’ve had successes.

I think a different point of the year and doing the show properly would have seen a different outcome - yes it would have cost more to make in an arena but I’ve no doubt it ultimately cost them more not doing it in an arena given how it flopped.

It even somewhat lends itself to being stripped if they scheduled it so the three episodes a week had two heats then a quarter final between the winners of those heats, then a semi finals and finals week to finish. In that case it wouldn’t even matter so much if the heats all had the same games as long as the quarter finals each week had a different line up.

Point taken. However, the very fact that Seven attempted to revive the concept in 2008 proves my point. Formats like these are best left to networks willing to give them the respect they deserve.

As I said, Channel 10 treated Gladiators as just another sporting event, not a reality competition. The grand launch campaign combined with the constantly changing premiere date only hurt things further. They wanted a blockbuster show, but throwing money at Gladiators wasn’t the answer in my opinion.

Let’s be honest, It’s A Knockout was never going to compete with Australian Ninja Warrior, was it?

It rated 1m+ for every episode. Even back then, those weren’t bad figures. Gladiators (2008 Australian TV series) - Wikipedia

Seven should seriously consider giving it another go.

It was not enough to be renewed.