Celebrity Love Island claws back viewers as show faces possible chop

LONDON - ITV's 'Celebrity Love Island' clawed back half a million viewers last night, despite rumours it could be set for the chop from prime time after losing 2m viewers and bookies giving it odds-on to go.

The half-hour show at 10pm managed an average 3.9m viewers or 20% of the viewing share, up 500,000 from Wednesday night's lowest rating of 3.4m.

The reality show, which sees 12 so-called celebrities including nurse turned glamour model Abi Titmuss and nightclub owner Fran Cosgrave on a Fijian island, started on Monday with 5.3m viewers, but sunk to 3.4m three days later -- half a million below ITV's 10pm slot average.

The show is scheduled to run for five weeks, but if viewers carry on deserting the show as they are, ITV may be forced to pull the prime time plug £15m show, like it did with 'Celebrity Wrestling' two weeks ago.

Bookmakers Ladbrokes gave the show odds on at 1/2 of being pulled after taking only £28 on bets for the winner yesterday.

Warren Lush, Ladbrokes spokesman, said:"Going by the interest in 'Celebrity Love Island', we'll take more money in the first half hour of Big Brother.

"It's odds-on at 1/2 that the multi-million pound Fijian love flop will go the way of 'Celebrity Wrestling' and be pulled early."

Daily Mirror TV critic Jim Shelley even went as far as to dedicate a double page spread detailing "12 reasons why 'Celebrity Love Island' is the worst TV show ever".

He declares the show to be "so bad, you can actually feel your brain cells eroding while you glare at it".

ITV defended the show, saying it had performed in the sought-after 16- to 35-year-old age group, pulling 28% of that audience, 12 share points above the slot average.

"We are pleased with its performance. People have to realise that it is going out in a 10pm as opposed to a 9pm slot and there's a significant difference in the ratings. Besides, everyone is talking about it," an ITV spokesman said.

Last night, the celebrities were told to organise themselves into a line with the most famous celebrity at the front.

Most of the contestants agreed that celebrity is marked on how often you appear in the tabloids and many were vying for Calum Best, son of the famous footballer George, to be nearest the front because he has appeared most frequently in the  tabloids.

Former 'EastEnders' star Michael Greco offered his reasoning to go near the front by saying: "How do you define celebrity? I mean 'EastEnders' is watched by over 15m people every night." 

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