Gladiators defeats Dancing On Ice in battle of TV ratings

BBC's Gladiators reboot looks set to win the reality TV ratings battle after its debut trounced the return of Dancing On Ice.

The 90s TV hit made a comeback to BBC One on Saturday night hosted by Bradley and Barney Walsh, and with a whole new cast of Gladiators bringing in the BBC's most-watched new show of 2024 so far.

Gladiators aired in the Saturday teatime slot at 5:50pm and was watched by an average audience of 6 million with a peak of 6.3 million, according to overnight figures.

Meanwhile, over on ITV family reality TV favourite The Masked Singer lagged behind on an average audience of 3.7 million for its third episode this series.

Read more: Reality shows boom as telly favourites feel the pinch

But ITV also had a big reality launch on the schedule at the weekend, as Dancing On Ice began its 2024 season as celebrities including Hannah Spearritt, Ryan Thomas and Amber Davies took to the skating rink.

Just 3.6 million viewers tuned into the show's launch on Sunday evening, a 500,000 drop on last year's launch despite it featuring Holly Willoughby's much-anticipated return to TV hosting after quitting This Morning in October.

So far, it looks as though the BBC is clocking up the biggest hits in recent reality TV (with the exception of Survivor) — here's how the ratings are looking.

Gladiators | BBC One

Not all reboots are guaranteed to be a roaring success, but so far viewers seem to love Gladiators.

The series launch to a peak overnight audience of 6.3 million viewers and reviews were generally positive, with some stand out stars amongst the new cast. Can the BBC reboot continue to pull in viewers after a strong start?

Dancing On Ice | ITV

Even Holly Willoughby's TV return wasn't enough to boost the ITV show's launch ratings, which were down 500,000 on last year to an overnight peak of 3.6 million.

The series has had a disappointing few years — in 2023, it launched to 4.1 million viewers, which was down on 2022's 5.4 million debut audience.

I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! | ITV

It's one of ITV's most successful shows, but viewers called for a boycott of the 2023 series of I'm a Celebrity over the controversial casting of Nigel Farage.

Whether they stayed away out of anger at the politician entering the jungle or were simply sick of the format is unclear, but viewers averaged at 8.36 million against the previous year's 10.94 million.

Strictly Come Dancing | BBC One

Ratings giant Strictly might have seen a decline, but is still up there in the most-watched TV shows in the country with its 2023 series drawing in an average of 8.55 million viewers.

The launch show picked up 7.92 million and the final rose to 10.06 million, which might be some way short of the show's peak years but is still enviable in terrestrial TV terms.

The Masked Singer | ITV

ITV's surreal singing contest is usually a hit with viewers, but was completely trounced by Gladiators in Saturday's ratings, where it aired its third episode of the series.

Just 3.7 million viewers opted for watching Rat unmasked as Shirley Ballas instead of seeing how the new Gladiators fared. The Masked Singer UK ratings peaked in 2020, with season two bringing in as many as 7m viewers a week.

The Voice UK | ITV

Meanwhile, ITV's singing contest The Voice UK which wound up its 12th run at the end of December suffered its worst ratings yet.

It recorded the lowest viewing figures of any of its series for the premiere (3.05 million) and as an average across the series (2.95 million).

The Traitors | BBC One

It seems everyone loves The Traitors, and in a rarity for recent reality TV, the current series has actually seen an increase in viewers on last year.

The show launched to 5.94 million viewers, against 3.88 million for the 2023 series debut, and the second run has stayed in the 5 millions for each episode so far.

Survivor | BBC

There was much excitement over the reboot of previous reality hit Survivor, but it was largely labelled a flop in ratings.

Despite being given a post-Strictly slot that should have seen it hang on to viewers, the contest only managed to keep 2.6 million viewers for its debut show.

Big Brother | ITV

Likewise, ITV looked to have bagged a flagship show by picking up the reboot of Big Brother in the autumn, but the reality comeback proved a little disappointing.

When series 20 launched after five years off screen, just 2.5 million viewers tuned in, with some commenting that they were disappointed by the pre-recorded episode which they felt lacked atmosphere.

Watch: Holly returns to Dancing On Ice