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ITV to drop Celebrity Wrestling

Kate Thornton is the main host of Celebrity Wrestling
High-profile ITV show Celebrity Wrestling has been dropped from schedules after poor ratings.

The show, which saw 12 personalities train and fight each other, was part of ITV's primetime schedule but failed to compete with the relaunched Doctor Who.

The show will go out at 1830 BST this Saturday but it is not known what will happen to the final four episodes.

ITV said the show had enjoyed a "strong start", but ratings fell to 2.6 million viewers on Saturday.

An ITV spokeswoman said: "Despite a strong start bringing in a large share of younger viewers to ITV1, in the last couple of weeks we have seen that share fall and as a result have decided to take Celebrity Wrestling out of the schedule.

"Kate Thornton and the team did a great job in what turned out to be a very competitive time slot in the Saturday night schedule. "

The relaunched Doctor Who has proved a ratings hit

The show began on 23 April with ratings of 3.8 million and a 21 % share of the audience but lost viewers week on week.

Doctor Who on BBC One attracted 10.5 million viewers in its first week but this has now settled down to an average of 7.5 million, and a 40% audience share.

Celebrity Wrestling contestants include Ex-EastEnders actor Marc Bannerman, former tennis star Annabel Croft, Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton and reality TV regulars James Hewitt and Jeff Brazier.

ITV will be pinning its hopes on its next big reality TV show Celebrity Love Island, which begins on 16 May.

It will follow 12 celebrities enjoying themselves at luxury Fijian resort as viewers vote for who they think would make the best couple. BBC

Dr KOs Celeb Wrestling
celebrity wrestling
Flop ... reality show


ITV bosses have ditched Celebrity Wrestling - after it was thumped in the ratings by BBC1's Dr Who.

The show - which features babes Kate Lawler and Victoria Silvstedt - has been pulled from its Saturday evening slot.

It will be replaced by repeats of Star Wars movies which controllers hope will boost audiences.

ITV said it intended to find another slot for the reality show, but warned it could be axed if this was not possible.

Celebrity Wrestling's ratings have been plunging steadily since the first night three weeks ago and dropped to just 2.6million this Saturday.

An ITV spokeswoman said: "Despite a strong start bringing in a large share of younger viewers to ITV1, in the last couple of weeks we have seen that share fall and as a result have decided to take Celebrity Wrestling out of the schedule.

"Kate Thornton and the team did a great job in what turned out to be a very competitive time slot in the Saturday night schedule."

It will be broadcast for the final time at 6.30pm on Saturday. Sun

Typical ITV1- they only care about advertising revenue.
They should have aired it on CITV in midweek anyway. As I've said before, the show wasn't produced right & some of the games were lame, plus the fact that Gladiators dying off & the saturation of 'celebrity' shows' should have told the powers that be that there was not going to be a big audience for this kind of programme.

And putting it up against Doctor Who was madness.

Kate is only one of many Celebrities taking part, & unlike others who've decided to bitch against fellow contestants after the filming, at least Kate tried to promote the programme positively.

The show has been dropped/rescheduled like so many ITV1 shows - & Kate only appeared once! & that was against the bloody dalek.

Rincewind - those that hate Kate will hate Kate anyway.

Keep the faith - Kate only took part because there was a sporting angle - the production & scheduling wasn't her problem. It has only been Kate's second foray into reality TV & Kate will probably give reality TV a wide berth.

Marc Bannerman (El Diablo in CW) was at Chesterfield's Zanzibar nightclub a couple of weeks ago. He said he was coming back when the show ended, as he didn't feel his on stage interview went very well - they had a new DJ on that night and he cocked it up somewhat!

Does that mean he's back there next week I wonder?

By Ciar Byrne .Independent
11 May 2005

ITV1 has dropped its Saturday night prime-time show Celebrity Wrestling half way through its run as a result of plummeting viewing figures.

The show, which involves D-list celebrities competing in wrestling bouts in front of an audience, will be aired for the last time on Saturday, after its ratings fell to just 2.6 million viewers. The following week, the show will be replaced by a Star Wars film.

Competition from BBC1's Doctor Who, which attracted 7.5 million viewers on Saturday, meant that just 14 per cent of the available audience watched Celebrity Wrestling.

The much-hyped show, whose contestants include the former Big Brother winner Kate Lawler, former tennis player Annabel Croft and Major James Hewitt, attracted 3.8 million viewers when it debuted on 23 April. In its second week, ratings fell to 3 million.

An ITV spokeswoman said: "Despite a strong start bringing in a large share of younger viewers to ITV1, in the last couple of weeks we have seen that share fall and as a result have decided to take Celebrity Wrestling out of the schedule

LEILANI DOWDING PROMOTING NATIONAL NURSES DAY AT ANN SUMMERS SEX SHOP, LONDON. REX

Just a few format/scheduling points to recap.IMO.
It was a 5 week run-that way everyone featured every week-more behind the scenes and boot capsnippets.(it is very diluted on impact)
Injuries treated logically in the edit and no masked celebrity.
The participants were never going to be the top draw celebs because there was a high water mark for physical ability.(which was attractive to them).
So it is very dodgy scheduling a brand new format for prime time saturday.
Ridiculous against Dr Who.(I don't know what a dalek is but if I ever see one about it's roadkill)
The execs at ITV were just too ambitious-they must have thought it was great when they saw it and got carried away.Even I think it was only "good" for some.
Kate fights Jenny on Saturday in the last at that slot.Can only be astonishing what happens.

Teletext says that ITV1 will show the remaining 4 episodes(after this saturday's one goes out)on sunday mornings! - starting the week after.

I hope 20Million watch Kate smash Jenny this saturday!

exterminate exterminate exterminate

Telly wrestling floored

AILING Celebrity Wrestling has been moved from its primetime Saturday slot to 9.25am on Sundays.

The show, hosted by Kate Thornton was trounced by BBC1’s Doctor Who with eight million viewers.

ITV1 chiefs even considered axing Celebrity Wrestling as ratings fell to 2.6 million.Sun

The Sun, one of the newspapers that lambasted CW has the show as one of the programmes to watch 9.25am Sunday. A photo of Kate & Jenny Here

But it's also on 6.30 saturday and better than Dr who namby-pamby sci-fi bollocks

Vilt

I hate Sci-Fi too!

It was William Shatner who once told a few sci-fi geeks to 'get a life!!!'(albeit on 'Saturday Night Live' sketch!)

This is crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

kates top almost coming off was good tho