ITV ditches Celebrity Wrestling after ratings drop to 2.6m

LONDON – ITV has dumped its much-trumpeted Saturday night TV show 'Celebrity Wrestling', starring a host of Z-list stars including James Hewitt and Victoria Silvstedt, after ratings plummeted to 2.6m.

'Celebrity Wrestling' was only three weeks into its eight-week run when ITV executives decided to dump the show, which sees minor celebrities wrestling each other to see who will be crowned King and Queen of the ring.

The show will air this week at 6.30pm as usual, but that will be the lat of it on ITV1 with the final four episodes destined for a low ratings appearance on one of ITV's digital channels.

The show, presented by Kate Thornton and WWE wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper, debuted on April 23 with 3.8m viewers or a 21% audience share, then slipped to 3m or 18% before dropping to a low of 2.6m or 14% in its 6.30pm slot last Saturday.

A spokeswoman for ITV, said: "Despite a strong start bringing in a large share of younger viewers to ITV1, in the last couple of weeks we have seen that share fall and as a result have decided to take Celebrity Wrestling out of the schedule.

"Kate Thornton and the team did a great job in what turned out to be a very competitive time slot in the Saturday night schedule. "  

ITV is used to receiving ratings of over 7m in the slot, which was previously the nesting ground of 'Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway' and the Simon Cowell-fronted series 'X Factor'.

The network has decided to replace the series with the original 'Star Wars' movie this Saturday, followed by 'The Empire Strikes Back' and 'Return of the Jedi' over the next two weeks, and is not planning to schedule 'Celebrity Wrestling' in another slot.

Brand Republic can exclusively reveal, to the 2.6m who may be devastated to never find out, that athlete Iwan Thomas and former tennis star Annabel Croft won the finals in their heats to be crowned King and Queen of the ring.

Part of ITV's problem is the success the BBC has had with 'Doctor Who', which 'Celebrity Wrestling' goes head to head with.

The BBC is triumphing in the Saturday night ratings battle with 'Doctor Who' starring Christopher Ecclestone and Billie Piper going from strength to strength.

'Doctor Who' has won every slot since its launch bar one, when ITV's final instalment of 'Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway' on April 16 averaged 7.1m.

That evening Doctor Who attracted 7m and has slowly risen to a peak of 7.8m or 36% audience share. 

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