Beauty and the Geek winners crowned 1:11
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Nick and Candice took out the big prize in the Grand Final of Beauty and the Geek. Courtesy: Channel 7
- news.com.au
- 27 Nov 2014
- Entertainment
THE final week of the 2014 TV ratings year was an utter flop with hardly any shows on the commercial TV networks cracking the 1 million viewer benchmark.
Channels Seven, Nine and Ten all struggled to find a hit even though the final week of ratings is traditionally the time the networks roll out their big guns.
Not this year.
The finales of The Big Adventure, Big Brother and Beauty and the Geek Australia have all been duds.
The Big Adventure finale averaged a disappointing 628,000 viewers across Australia’s five capital cities with the short Winner Announced segment rising to 649,000.
That was despite tradie Mark Sellar winning a massive $1 million prize money during the episode.
The big flop ... The Big Adventure’s Mark Sellar walked away with mega bucks - but viewers failed to care. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt Source: News Corp Australia
Big Brother - Winner Announced slumped to 737,000 viewers – a near 50 per cent drop from the 1.4 million that watched last year’s finale. Surfer Ryan Ginns took home $200,000.
Beauty and the Geek Australia’s final episode languished on 548,000 - down 31 per cent on last year (803,000). Nick Hamilton and Candice Stinson won the $100,000 prize.
The only finale to post a respectable figure was Dancing with the Stars with 1.063 million viewers – but that was 23 per cent down on last year’s 1.38 million. Former AFL footballer David Rodan and dance partner Melanie Hooper claimed the mirrorball trophy.
Close, but no cigar ... David Rodan took home the Dancing With The Stars trophy but the finale attracted fewer viewers than last year. Picture: Mike Keating. Source: News Corp Australia
Last night things were so bad that Nine aired old repeats of New Tricks and Midsomer Murders which usually screen on its digital channel GEM.
The move backfired with New Tricks (438,000) and Midsomer Murders (193,000) barely putting up a fight.
Last night’s A Current Affair, a special One Direction edition, can be added to the flop list with 547,000 viewers, possibly due to the show’s older demographic, but also because all anyone wanted to hear about last night was the tragic death of cricketer Phillip Hughes, who wasn’t even mentioned on the show.
Nobody cared ... One Direction with Tracy Grimshaw. Source: Channel 9
“The networks aren’t ending 2014 with a bang, they’re ending it with a whimper,” media analyst Steve Allen says. “A puppy would have more bark.”
Ten’s highest rating shows this week have been Gold Coast Cops (772,000) and NCIS (700,000). Ten has also been getting some traction with Madam Secretary (560,000).
Nine scored well with the One Day Cricket – Australia v South Africa (1.171 million) and The Big Bang Theory (1.044 million).
Seven grabbed respectable figures for Criminal Minds (800,000) and Home and Away (a high of 882,000 on Monday).
The ABC has got good returns from Australian Story (996,000), Countdown: Do Yourself a Favour (919,000), Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell (733,000) and Cilla (728,000).
Oh, Brother ... Big Brother is unlikely to return next year with viewers well down on last year. Source: Supplied
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