ITV’s I’m a Celeb devours BBC’s Apprentice for second week
Thursday night brought the second ever clash between two of terrestrial telly’s big hitters as BBC One’s boardroom farce once again went head to head with ITV’s itchy jungle histrionics.
Last week’s head-to-head saw Lord Sugar’s carnival of corporate clowns lose -21% of viewers week on week as a direct result of the distracting ball-munching antics over on ITV. Last night brought some relief for the tenth series of The Apprentice (9pm), which managed to recover some of its losses with a particularly cut-throat episode.
Now that the massive hoard of the original twenty candidates has been whittled down to a much more manageable nine, it seems the series has finally hit its stride.
Yesterday’s adventure in the world of commercially-minded morons saw The Right Honourable Alan Michael Sugar send his team of irrational city folk all the way down to Somerset to flog some wellies and the likes to locals.
An audience of 5.3 million viewers – a slight improvement on last week’s 5 million – tuned in to see one particular useless contestant prove himself to be the perfect candidate for a firing, netting a 21% share.
But of course all the corporate conflict and backstabbing couldn’t compete with ITV’s unstoppably popular I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! (ITV, 9pm) which saw a very unpopular camp mate face the bush tucker trial for the millionth time.
An audience of 7.6 million viewers tuned in to see Kendra, the distraught and emotionally wobbly discarded bunny, fail another task while not really trying.
A 32% share watched the hour and a half show as the dead-inside former Playboy doll had to put her head through a few paintings.
Over on Channel 4, the tale of luxury retail and brand promotion continued as the broadcaster dedicated yet another hour of its prime time schedule to advertise a shop.
The latest trip to Liberty of London (9pm) saw the purveyors of unnecessary and expensive tat attempt to crack the rich Chinese businessmen market by hiring a consultant to drag them through the doors.
The gaudy sixty-minute celebration of opulence secured 839,000 viewers and a 3% share.
At the same time, Channel 5 gifted viewers with the second series of Benefits Britain: Life on the Dole (9pm), the broadcaster’s knee-jerk reaction to Channel 4’s notorious Benefits Street. ‘Reactionary’ mightn’t be the best description for the origins of the show; calling it a ‘carbon copy opportunist slog’ is probably a slightly more accurate account.
An audience of 1.3 million viewers (a 5% share) decided to spend their Thursday night in the company of the terminally unemployed who were more than happy to play up for the camera.
There was more bizarre austerity entertainment over on BBC Three with a repeat of Growing Up Poor (9pm), a worrying experience from start to finish.
Part-exploitation doc, part-cautionary tale for deluded teens (it seems every unemployed youngster on a particular council estate hedged their bets on growing up famous), the depressing hour of telly netted 285,000 viewers and a 1% share.
Earlier at 8pm, Surprise Surprise (ITV) was back to warm the cockles of the ‘ordinary’ folk of the UK, while Olly Murs continued on his quest to appear on every British light entertainment show currently in existence.
3.5 million viewers watched as the entertainer briefly feigned emotional involvement in the show before reminding everyone he was there to promote his new album, bagging a 16% share.
Over on BBC One, Waterloo Road (8pm) netted 2.6 million viewers, while MasterChef: The Professionals (8pm) brought in a little over 3 million viewers.
Earlier at 7pm, Emmerdale‘s newest little murderer (they like to start them off young on that soap) had a bit of a bad day, returning home after a bit of a beating. A little over 6 million viewers watched as her family pleaded with her to go to the police, securing a 30% share.
Straight afterwards on Coronation Street (ITV, 7:30pm) Steve McDonald’s brain mechanic issues continued, with last night’s trip to Weatherfield seeing the pub owner putting more money into a past-it sports car.
A little over 7 million viewers watched as Steve snubbed Michelle’s efforts to heal their broken relationship, resulting in a 33% share and the day’s second biggest hit.
Overnight data is available each morning in mediatel.co.uk’s TV Database, with all BARB registered subscribers able to view reports for terrestrial networks and key multi-channel stations. Overnight data supplied by TRP are based on 15 minute slot averages. This may differ from tape checked figures, which are based on a programme’s actual start and end time.
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