It took 21 years for the BBC to resurrect reality TV format Survivor — at a cost of £30 million.
But after just one series, I am told the show, presented by joking Joel Dommett, has been quietly put out of its misery. The new Survivor was filmed last summer in the Dominican Republic and went out in October.
But on average just 2.7 million viewers tuned in — a woundingly low number for primetime on BBC1; particularly given the Beeb put it out directly after Strictly. Meanwhile, its ITV rival, I’m A Celebrity, averaged 8.5 million when it was broadcast the following month.
A source says: ‘It was clear at the time it went out the show was not a hit. They threw everything at it, but although a lot had been changed, and many years had gone by since it was last on, it still did not work.
It took 21 years for the BBC to resurrect reality TV format Survivor — at a cost of £30 million (pictured: Joel Dommett)
But after just one series, I am told the show, presented by joking Joel Dommett , has been quietly put out of its misery
‘It got just the same response as it did back in 2001 and 2002 on ITV — which is that audiences thought it was boring. It’s not going into production this year.’
The BBC did seek potential contestants for a second series, at the end of last year, via their ‘take part’ page. However, a note on the Survivor UK website says casting has been paused, adding: ‘As things stand, we are not processing or taking any further applications at this time.’
Staff on the show have all moved to other projects.
The repeated failure of Survivor to catch on in the UK — despite success in 50 other countries around the world (it has aired continuously in the U.S. since 2000) — is baffling.
Paul Osborne, who successfully brought Big Brother to Channel 5, was the showrunner for the BBC, and took soundings from format consultants around the world about how it should be updated.
But on average just 2.7 million viewers tuned in — a woundingly low number for primetime on BBC1; particularly given the Beeb put it out directly after Strictly
In the new version, the 18 hopefuls had to hunt and forage for food, build their own shelters, and compete for rewards — and immunity from fellow castaways.
Osborne said at the launch: ‘There were lots and lots of things we learned from other territories, while we were also able to put our own stamp on this.
‘There is a little more strategic gameplay with the new version that is palpable for a modern audience.’
Survivor was commissioned by Kalpna Patel-Knight, the BBC’s head of entertainment, who described its return as a ‘renaissance rather than a reboot’. She had hoped it would attract an audience similar to the Beeb’s smash-hit The Traitors.
Sixteen episodes were filmed in 34 days, with 100 camera crew from the UK, plus more than 400 local workers. The £100,000 top prize was won by graduate Matthew Hayward, from Cumbria. The two original series had a prize of £1 million.
A BBC source said this week that the show had not been formally killed off, but that its future was ‘under consideration’.
Pointless star becomes literary phenomenon
His Pointless co-star Richard Osman has become the toast of the bookselling world, thanks to the phenomenal success of his Thursday Murder Club books. And now Alexander Armstrong is following him as an author.
Armstrong has written a children’s novel, Evenfall: The Golden Linnet, which is said to be part Indiana Jones, part Harry Potter, with a dash of His Dark Materials. It comes out in September.
It’s another string to his bow. He started as a comedian in a double act with fellow Cambridge graduate Ben Miller, moved on to acting, and then worked as a TV and radio presenter — and singer, too.
Pointless star Richard Osman has become the toast of the bookselling world, thanks to the phenomenal success of his Thursday Murder Club books (pictured right at Wimbledon in July)
Learning to talk just like Mrs T
Frances Barber has called in expert help in a bid to perfect her depiction of Margaret Thatcher for a new Radio 4 drama When Maggie Met Larry.
‘I’m taking instruction from Steve Nallon, who impersonated Mrs Thatcher so amazingly well on Spitting Image,’ declares Frances, who also plays private sleuth Dolly Nolan in U’s crime drama Whitstable Pearl.
‘It’s a hard voice to get right and I fear this might be the end of my career if I don’t nail it.’ The play examines how the former PM consulted legendary actor Sir Laurence Olivier as she struggled to replace her shrill tones with something deeper, more authoritative and more appealing to voters.
Due to air in February, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Mrs Thatcher becoming leader of the Conservative Party, When Maggie Met Larry will also star Barber’s friend Sir Derek Jacobi as Olivier.
Frances Barber has called in expert help in a bid to perfect her depiction of Margaret Thatcher for a new Radio 4 drama When Maggie Met Larry
When Maggie Met Larry is due to air in February, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Mrs Thatcher becoming leader of the Conservative Party
Ange and Brad take evasive action to avoid a Venice showdown
Angelina Jolie is due in Venice in a month’s time to promote the film Maria, in which she plays opera legend Maria Callas.
Awkwardly, her former husband Brad Pitt will be there, too — for his new hitman-caper movie Wolfs, with George Clooney.
My spies on the Lido indicate that the schedules have been arranged so that the warring couple — who continue to be embroiled in legal action eight years after they split — will not be at the film festival at the same time.
Like those German weather house clocks where one figure comes out as the other goes in, they are going to attend the festival and stay at the same hotel, the Cipriani — but not come face to face.
The estranged pair have managed never to be at the same event in Hollywood since splitting, with Jolie largely skipping red-carpet events in LA, even though she lives there with their six children.
The estranged pair have managed never to be at the same event in Hollywood since splitting, with Jolie largely skipping red-carpet events in LA, even though she lives there with their six children (pictured at the Tony Awards in New York in June)
Angelina Jolie is due in Venice in a month’s time to promote the film Maria, in which she plays opera legend Maria Callas. Awkwardly, her former husband Brad Pitt will be there, too (pictured at the British F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone in June)
Trouble in paradise for Liam Gallagher
Liam Gallagher and fiancee Debbie Gwyther are having a spot of trouble in paradise.
The couple bought Noel Edmonds’s villa in Provence last year. But now their gardener is complaining that he has been given the heave-ho . . . by the pair’s manager.
On an expat forum, Tom Ceze lets rip: ‘This is not nice! We are in France! There are rules here . . . please act responsibly and at least have the balls to sack me face to face.’
Ms Gwyther did not respond to a request for comment.
Liam Gallagher (pictured) and fiancee Debbie Gwyther are having a spot of trouble in paradise
Mission: Impossible star on summer health-kick
Tom Cruise has been everywhere this summer — Wembley for Taylor Swift, Glastonbury for Coldplay, Wimbledon for the tennis and Paris for the Olympics.
But there were no festival falafels, or Centre Court strawberries and cream — or even champagne on the Champs Elysees — for the Mission: Impossible star.
I am told that the 62-year-old icon asks for steamed white fish and veg — sans sauce, oil and butter — wherever he goes. And alcohol is also a no-no.
The film star has said the secret of his success is that he works harder than anyone else — and that includes rising at 5.30am to go to the gym.
Tom Cruise has been everywhere this summer — Wembley for Taylor Swift, Glastonbury for Coldplay, Wimbledon for the tennis and Paris for the Olympics
Harrison Ford shuts down reporter
The sheer hell of spending five decades answering inane questions has apparently taken its toll on Harrison Ford.
The 82-year-old actor was hilariously rude at Comic-Con, where he was promoting the forthcoming Captain America: Brave New World, telling an interviewer: ‘I’ve always treated these questions with the utmost respect and somehow, at the same time, complete disdain.
‘I will not answer that stupid question. But thank you. Delighted to have the opportunity.’
The sheer hell of spending five decades answering inane questions has apparently taken its toll on Harrison Ford (pictured)
A question of how we get this show on the road
The BBC sacked Sue Barker, Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell from A Question Of Sport in 2020, deciding to ‘refresh’ the show with a new host — Paddy McGuinness — and new team captains (Sam Quek and Ugo Monye, for two points).
It was, of course, a complete disaster — and the show was axed in 2023.
Now Barker reveals she has plans to take a ‘sporting quiz show’ on the road with her former team captains Dawson and Tufnell.
Although they don’t have the rights to the format, it seems that the three of them believe they can put together a fun theatre show with a quiz element to appeal to fans of the original programme.
The BBC sacked Sue Barker, Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell from A Question Of Sport in 2020, deciding to ‘refresh’ the show with a new host — Paddy McGuinness — and new team captains
‘It’s early stages yet but we’re hoping to do a theatre tour in a sports quiz next year,’ says Barker.
‘Fingers crossed, it will be great to get the gang back together. Matt and I go back so many years — he joined in 2004, so we were together for 16-plus years. And then Tuffers . . . we go back at least 12 years.
‘So there is an amazing bond there. We have our own little WhatsApp group — we keep in touch.’
She added that she is not interested in following friends Annabel Croft and Angela Rippon onto Strictly Come Dancing, saying: ‘I’m definitely not going to do it. I go and do my little yoga class and I realise I’m a long way from Angela’s flexibility. No thank you very much!’
No solo slot for Farmer Clarkson’s pub
Good news for Jeremy Clarkson fans: the former Top Gear host is, indeed, filming his misadventures in the Cotswolds pub he bought in June for a show on Prime Video.
The bad news is that, contrary to speculation, there’s not going to be a Clarkson’s Farm spin-off — Clarkson’s Pub.
His publican antics will simply be a sub-plot in the fourth series of his smash-hit reality TV show.
Sources confirm that Clarkson is busy documenting his efforts to renovate and reopen The Windmill in Burford for Clarkson’s Farm.
The new pub will stock Hawkstone lager, which uses the barley he grows on Diddly Squat Farm. (Earlier this year, I revealed that he has taken the reins at the Cotswold Brewing Company, which makes his beer.)
Jeremy Clarkson recently purchased The Windmill pub in Oxfordshire for £1m
Good news for Jeremy Clarkson fans: the former Top Gear host is, indeed, filming his misadventures in the Cotswolds pub he bought in June for a show on Prime Video
The bad news is that, contrary to speculation, there’s not going to be a Clarkson’s Farm spin-off — Clarkson’s Pub (pictured: Clarkson filming at his new pub The Windmill)
He will also sell some of his produce there. Handy, since at the moment his main outlet is the Diddly Squat Farm Shop.
I’m told: ‘Jeremy is busy in the pub, and it’s all being filmed for Clarkson’s Farm. The idea is that everything in the pub will come from the farm, if that is possible.’
A fourth series — featuring The Windmill — is expected to air next spring. But the pub is aiming to open to the public later this month. Clarkson wrote about his search for the perfect pub in a recent column in The Sunday Times.
He said he couldn’t buy his village pub as ‘the locals would set fire to me’. And other options had significant drawbacks — such as the watering hole that moonlighted as a county lines drugs lab.
He looked at ‘about 14,000’ before finding ‘just the place’ and snapping it up for less than £1 million. He then discovered that it was near a ‘famous dogging site’ and had a loft full of dead rats and ‘illegal’ loos.
Clarkson’s struggles on the 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm have been the crowning glory of his TV career. Nearly 11 million watched the latest series of Clarkson’s Farm within 48 hours of its release.
It’s not known how much he is paid, but it’s thought that, cannily, he only signs up for a year at a time, meaning he can use its extraordinary success as leverage.