BBC bosses in a scramble as Joel Dommett show is a flop with viewers

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BBC bosses are said to be holding crisis talks to boost ratings for their newest reality TV show.

Producers at the broadcaster chose to revive iconic reality TV show Survivor, which splits contestants into teams whilst marooned on a tropical island. The show is presented by hunky host Joel Dommett, who turns up the tension between the two camps.

But after the show's grand launch following Strictly Come Dancing last week, bosses were left underwhelmed at the number of people tuning in. According to figures, the show – which had a primetime slot on a Saturday evening brought in just 2.6million viewers on average.

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Despite having millions of people tuning in to the show, this is half the number of viewers who had tuned in to watch Michael McIntyre's game show The Wheel, which aired just week before. This is despite the BBC pushing the show, with an intense marketing campaign and giving the show a slot just after Strictly, aiming to keep viewers interested.

As a result of the chaos, bosses are trying to work out how to keep numbers up for the remaining 14 episodes of the series. A source close to the show branded the situation as "crazy".

"BBC One had a winning Saturday and Sunday night schedule that would have seen it safely through to Christmas," they explained. "And the panicking bosses just ripped it up to make room for a show that cost so much of licence payers’ money that they could not afford for it to flop."

To make room for the show, staple BBC shows including Sir David Attenborough's Planet Earth III was pushed out of its regular 8pm Sunday slot. But despite the push to keep ratings high, the second episode only brought in 2.3million viewers – which was less than a repeat of Antiques Roadshow being broadcast on BBC Two.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, the source added: "It is terrible news for the BBC, it is an absolute disaster. It cost a fortune and it is just not appealing to the masses – conversations are now taking place as to what can be done to turn things around, quickly."

Survivor was a huge hit for British viewers when it first came onto our screens in 2001, then being shown on ITV. The show ran for two seasons, before being cancelled – but reached international acclaim when the show went Stateside.

For the new series of the show, 18 contestants are shipwrecked in the Dominican Republic and split into two tribes. The camps will compete in physical and mental challenges, before eventually being merged together. The winner will bag themselves a cool £100,000.

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