The Block’s ratings are in freefall as viewers abandon the once record-breaking reality show
Channel Nine’s flagship home renovation program The Block is losing the ratings war as frustrated viewers switch to competing reality shows.
The reality show, hosted by Scott Cam, has lost 20 percent of its viewers in its current 19th season, losing top spot to Seven’s My Kitchen Rules.
Meanwhile, the Manu Feildel-hosted cooking show scored 622,000 metro viewers on Friday, easily beating The Block’s relatively small 526,000.
This number is just over half of the million plus viewers that The Block attracted in 2018.
An industry insider said this The Daily Telegraph these numbers were a bad omen for Cam’s show.
Channel Nine’s flagship home renovation program The Block is losing the ratings war as frustrated viewers switch to competing reality shows. Pictured: host Scott Cam
“The collapse of The Block is seriously bad news for Nine as it was one of their biggest shows and the bookend of the year for them,” they said.
They added that dating show Married At First Sight was one of the few successful reality shows Nine had left, after a series of high-profile flops.
“It comes after the failure of Rush, The Summit and Parental Guidance and the cancellation of Ninja Warrior. Nine is now just the MAFS network.”
The Scott Cam-hosted reality show has lost 20 percent of its viewers in its current 19th season, losing the top spot to Seven’s My Kitchen Rules. Pictured: Queensland participant Leah
It comes amid reports that viewers have labeled this season of The Block as “toxic” and “disturbing” thanks to the constant feuding and bullying among the Blockheads.
And contestants have now become angry about the way they have been portrayed on the show, new reports claim.
Speak with Yahoo! Lifestylesaid an insider that several stars have been left “devastated” by their on-screen montage, adding: “The tension that continues to build as the series progresses has also left the contestants shaken.”
Seven’s My Kitchen Rules scored 622,000 metro viewers on Friday, comfortably beating The Block’s relatively small 526,000
‘What happened during filming does not reflect most participants’ ideas about who would be popular with viewers. I would say it’s almost the other way around,” they added.
The source warned that an “all-out war is brewing” between the contestants, many of whom were apparently cast specifically to cause drama.
Meanwhile, dedicated viewers have complained that the Block has become a ‘downer’ by focusing too much on ‘drama’ and not enough on home renovations.
Viewers took to Reddit to air their grievances and threw shade at the new episodes, calling it a “soap opera” and comparing it to MAFS.
The low viewing figures are just over half of the million-plus viewers that The Block attracted in 2018
An industry insider told The Daily Telegraph that these figures were a bad omen for the renovation show: Pictured: The Block judges Neale Whitaker, Darren Palmer, Shaynna Blaze and Marty Fox