It was trending #1 on Twitter when it was airing. Not that tweets ever equate to ratings.
I don’t expect it to be a huge hit anyway when Ten have struggled with most of their shows lately and most things struggle this late in the year. They clearly left it for the tail end of the year for a reason and hoping to get viewers in the younger demos.
Jack And Audrey Eliminated From The Challenge Australia.
Tonight’s mixed bag of drama, saw Challengers “truck it” in the challenge and a pair make-up and break-up, before Jack and Audrey packed their suitcases and said adiós.
Lust-filled romances move pretty fast in Argentina and if you don’t stop and look around every once and a while, you might just miss them. The latest smooching sweethearts were Jessica and Johnny who had the entire Challenge house chatting up a storm. After Johnny made it clear he wasn’t on The Challenge Australia to find love (there’s a show for that, though), Jessica was left to self-reflect on the trials and tribulations of her love life.
After surviving the first elimination of the season, the Challengers were nervous to find their next task Truck It, required them to move across the side of a semi-truck that was speeding down an airstrip. Various teams rose to the occasion with Ciarran and Megan, Troy and Jessica, and Grant and Sugar, all successfully completing the challenge. Only one team could win though, and Troy’s ninja-speed paired with Jessica’s precision, ultimately couldn’t be beaten. Coming in last was slow and steady Jack and Audrey, leading Jack to his second elimination challenge.
When it came time to choose another pair to face-off against Jack and Audrey, it was Troy and Jessica who had all the power. Those quick to cotton on to the social strategy of the game, were taking the time to buddy up to Troy and Jessica and plead their case as to why they shouldn’t be sent to elimination. Some Challengers took a different path entirely though, with Olympic gold medallist Emily, not seeing the point in “sucking up”. Despite her partner David’s best efforts in starting some character-damaging rumours against fellow contestants, it was Emily’s ego that landed them in elimination.
The elimination challenge In Your Face, saw Jack, Audrey, Emily and David test their hand-eye-coordination as they hurled balls at targets, while defending their own. It was truly neck-and-neck, but ultimately the Olympian hit her final target, leaving Jack and Audrey to say their goodbyes.
Don’t miss a minute of The Challenge Australia action, 7.30pm Monday, as a scorned Challenger - we’re looking at you Emily and David! - looks for the ultimate revenge, before the Algorithm sees two sworn enemies find a way to work together.
Jessica And David Eliminated From The Challenge Australia.
An episode filled with underdogs, hose-downs and back-stabbing, had Challengers practice their bola throwing and spelling, before Jessica and David departed Argentina.
Tonight’s Challenge, Bolas for Blood, saw Challengers test their endurance and math, while getting down and dirty in a mud pit. We learned that for Ciarran, Emily and Johnny, simple arithmetic is not their forte, however Ryan and Brooke J on the other hand, smashed through their equations with the correctly numbered bolas. Teams then had to successfully toss their bolas onto their posts. Despite their initial lead, Ryan and Brooke J were struggling to hook on their last bola while self-appointed underdogs, Conor and Cyrell, were hot on their tail. Ultimately, Conor’s softball skills saw him quickly toss all three bolas onto their post, coming out on top. In last place and into elimination were David and Jessica. Challengers were left with one looming question - who would be joining them?
Still furious with Grant for leading her into episode one’s elimination, Cyrell was blinded by revenge, with Kiki simply being collateral damage. David and Jessica put forward their preferred elimination pairing in Konrad and Brooke B, in an effort to begin dismantling the Bachie alliance, but ultimately their pleads fell on deaf ears. Grant and Kiki were selected to face-off against David and Jessica.
The elimination challenge, Spelling Eeb, had Challengers each taking a turn to spell words backwards. For every incorrect word, additional tyres were added to their pile which had to be moved from one side of battle square to the other, and successfully stacked into a tower. David, Jessica and Grant buzzed through their words, while Kiki was caught not being able to spell “algorithm” backwards, setting them up at a disadvantage. The handicap didn’t stop them though, and Grant’s determination to get N-E-V-E with Cyrell pushed them to the win, while David and Jessica said adios to The Challenge Australia.
The Challenge Australia continues 7.30pm tomorrow, as that pesky algorithm forces exes Kiki and Ciarran to pair up and reconnect, while Konrad and Megan take “reconnecting” into their own hands as things heat up in the hot tub.
Jessica And David Eliminated From The Challenge Australia.
An episode filled with underdogs, hose-downs and back-stabbing, had Challengers practice their bola throwing and spelling, before Jessica and David departed Argentina.
Tonight’s Challenge, Bolas for Blood, saw Challengers test their endurance and math, while getting down and dirty in a mud pit. We learned that for Ciarran, Emily and Johnny, simple arithmetic is not their forte, however Ryan and Brooke J on the other hand, smashed through their equations with the correctly numbered bolas. Teams then had to successfully toss their bolas onto their posts. Despite their initial lead, Ryan and Brooke J were struggling to hook on their last bola while self-appointed underdogs, Conor and Cyrell, were hot on their tail. Ultimately, Conor’s softball skills saw him quickly toss all three bolas onto their post, coming out on top. In last place and into elimination were David and Jessica. Challengers were left with one looming question - who would be joining them?
Still furious with Grant for leading her into episode one’s elimination, Cyrell was blinded by revenge, with Kiki simply being collateral damage. David and Jessica put forward their preferred elimination pairing in Konrad and Brooke B, in an effort to begin dismantling the Bachie alliance, but ultimately their pleads fell on deaf ears. Grant and Kiki were selected to face-off against David and Jessica.
The elimination challenge, Spelling Eeb, had Challengers each taking a turn to spell words backwards. For every incorrect word, additional tyres were added to their pile which had to be moved from one side of battle square to the other, and successfully stacked into a tower. David, Jessica and Grant buzzed through their words, while Kiki was caught not being able to spell “algorithm” backwards, setting them up at a disadvantage. The handicap didn’t stop them though, and Grant’s determination to get N-E-V-E with Cyrell pushed them to the win, while David and Jessica said adios to The Challenge Australia.
The Challenge Australia continues 7.30pm tomorrow, as that pesky algorithm forces exes Kiki and Ciarran to pair up and reconnect, while Konrad and Megan take “reconnecting” into their own hands as things heat up in the hot tub.
Hot Tubs And Hook - Ups.
Cyrell And Johnny Eliminated From The Challenge Australia.
Tonight’s episode of The Challenge Australia had it all. From hook-ups to back-stabbing, tears to triumphs and of course an epic elimination that took down the cyclone herself, with Cyrell and Johnny saying farewell.
Before tonight’s Challenge kicked off, a hook-up had the house in a flurry with Konrad and Megan getting steamy in the hot tub. Fellow Challengers didn’t seem to mind though, hoping the romance would act as the perfect distraction to the ultimate end goal of being the first ever winners of The Challenge Australia.
As for the Challenge itself, teams competed in Build Me Up, a task that involved 45kg wine barrels - but to everyone’s disappointment - none of the wine. Each pair had to haul the barrels from one side of the track to the other before stacking them up, climbing them and releasing their flares. Just five seconds apart, it was Troy and Emily that stacked their barrels ahead of Sugar and Konrad, safely cementing their first place win. The remaining teams all pushed through, but Johnny and Cyrell couldn’t collect their barrels quick enough, leading them into elimination.
When deciding who would join them, Troy and Emily heard from Cyrell and Johnny directly that they wanted to face Conor and Megan in elimination, thinking they’d have the best chance against them. Ciarran and Kiki’s names were also thrown in the mix, with hopes of taking out some strong players. When it came time to battle it out, Conor and Megan’s names were called, and the elimination Challenge began.
A Dark Turn was a Challenge that mixed memory with attention to detail and a little bit of physical endurance. Each pair had to enter a pitch black container and feel their way through a stacked up puzzle before needing to replicate it out in the arena. Both teams had their puzzles stacking up quickly but Megan and Conor realised they were counting the spacing wrong and were forced to start over again. Meanwhile, Cyrell and Johnny complete their stack first, however once checked, was declared incorrect. It proved lucky that Conor and Megan spotted their error early, as they came back quickly to win the round.
After an emotional goodbye, Johnny and Cyrell packed their bags and headed home before everyone’s favourite algorithm created some exceptionally strong pairs for the next Challenge.
The Challenge Australia continues Monday and will see tensions boil over as Challengers Emily and Brittany go head-to head in the house, rather than the arena.
10 has bumped The Challenge to a 8.30pm timeslot from next week due to low ratings. Not only that, the show will now air once a week, with double episodes on Monday nights.
Another shit show bites the dust and Channel 10 waste all their premium product with first runs on Paramount+.
I wouldn’t be so sure it’s Channel 10 management letting Paramount+ have the good stuff. There’s probably two completely different management teams.
A team for 10 to commission stuff for FTA and a Paramount team commissioning programming for Paramount+.
I don’t think it’s one entity.
Obviously we’ve seen some content shifted away from 10 to P+ such as Five Bedrooms, The Secret She Keeps etc but it’s not really a case of anyone cherry picking who gets what, and whether it’s good or bad.
Shows will be commissioned for certain delivery and decisions will be made around the audience, tone, pacing and how people will be consuming - i.e. FTA or ad free streaming.
Additionally, that’s not the case about the teams being separate. They are in essence one company, that being Paramount ANZ, which
Daniel Monaghan the SVP of Content & Programming and his team oversee both 10 and P+ respectively.
It’s the same in the UK, the heads of programming and commissioning editors are the same between Ch5 and Paramount+ locally.
It certainly seems like Paramount+ has cherry picked the best content though. Those dramas that started on Ten should have run on Ten first or at the very least screened same time on both.
I wouldn’t necessarily call it cherry picking when they’re the same company, Paramount (the business) obviously sacrificed those shows at the expense of FTA content and viewers with the long term strategy of growing their streaming catalogue and subscribers with exclusive content which can have a second window on FTA.
The show dropped on Binge today.
Ryan And Sugar Eliminated From The Challenge Australia.
In another jam-packed episode of The Challenge Australia, strategies, conflicts and surprises saw two strong contenders, Sugar and Ryan, depart Argentina.
The Challenge, Buddy Blinders, had partners race half a kilometre to a puzzle hidden by blinds. One partner had to balance on a post to reveal the puzzle while the other memorised it, before the pair ran back to replicate it. Conor and Brittany made the whole Challenge look easy, with Conor successfully replicating the puzzle and winning them a “power” that was yet to be revealed. The lack of teamwork and communication between Grant and Brooke B, lead them into elimination.
Without hesitation, Conor and Brittany selected Sugar and Ryan to join Grant and Brooke B in the elimination Challenge in hopes to break down the bedroom alliance, consisting of Ryan, Sugar, Emily and Grant. Emily took the strategy personally, leading to a screaming match between her and Brittany, which created a huge divide between the bedroom and Bachie alliances.
The elimination Challenge, Ball and Chain, had teams answering a series of six questions with the answers on 15kg balls tangled in chains. Partners had to work together to untangle the correct ball before running it to the post and hoisting it up to the hook. Ryan and Sugar worked swiftly and were quickly in the lead, however their answers were incorrect. Grant and Brooke B were able to use the extra time to secure the win, sending Sugar and Ryan home… or so they thought. Brihony revealed that in celebration of the series’ half-way mark, no one was going home, and as for Conor and Brittany’s “power”, they got to select the teams for the next Challenge.
The next day proved things were heating up outside of the arena too. Brittany’s birthday celebrations were cancelled after Ryan picked a fight with Konrad, before Ryan told everyone in the house what he thought of them. As the tension settled over the house, Brihony returns with a surprise Challenge, giving Challengers 10 minutes to get dressed before they were thrown in the back of a truck and driven to the arena at night. The new partners were revealed with Conor and Brittany choosing to pair the bedroom alliance together in hopes of leading them all into elimination against each other.
The Challenge, Getting Tyred, had teams swim in freezing water before completing a series of puzzles to unlock tyres worth various points and running them back to their posts. The bedroom teams wasted a lot of time on a high scoring puzzle that they can’t solve. Troy and Brooke J took the lead with Grant and Emily in last place. Keeping faithful to the original strategy, Troy and Brooke J chose the remaining bedroom team, Ryan and Sugar, to face-off with their friends in the elimination Challenge, Balls In. The Challenge saw the girls and boys go head-to-head to score balls in the basket. It came down to a sudden death round against Grant and Ryan that Grant ultimately won, and resulted in Ryan and Sugar being eliminated, again… but this time for real.
The Challenge Australia continues next Monday, as the Bachie alliance revels in their successful strategic play, Ciarran’s shower slip up comes back to bite him earlier than expected, when his partner back home receives a secret DM, informing her of the scandal.
This will come as a surprise to absolutely nobody.
I am actually surprised. It’s summer non-ratings and there are only four more episodes to go. Why can’t 10 let the series finish its run on the main channel?
Because it will make their already pitiful shares worse?
Sub 100k viewers at 8:30pm is unsustainable, no matter the time of year.
Just a remainder that the final two episodes will be shown on 10Shake at 8.30pm tonight and Tuesday.
Last week, Marley and Emily were eliminated in the first episode while Grant and Megan bowed out in the second episode, meaning The Bachelor alliance now had the majority.
The pairings going into the second last episode were:
Brittany and Troy
Conrad and Brooke B.
Ciarran and Brooke J.
Conor and Kiki
You can call it either a remainder or the dregs. 
Troy Cullen and Kiki Morris were declared male and female winners in tonight’s finale. They each won $100,000, and would together represent Australia in The Challenge World Championship in South Africa.
