Seven to try again with Holey Moley but Ultimate Tag won’t be back
Holey Moley is set to return to Seven in 2022, despite the mini-golf reality program performing below expectations in 2021.
The show, hosted by Sonia Kruger and commentated by former olympian Matt Shirvington and US comedian Rob Riggle, made a strong debut with 983,000 metro viewers tuning in for the launch, where it beat Ten’s offering of The Amazing Race Australia and Nine’s Married at First Sight reunion.
It didn’t take long to fall away, however, and after a few episodes had dipped to results like 469,000 and 510,000 and episode, as a falling number of Aussies tuned-in to watch participants attempt to beat an obstacle-filled mini-golf course.
But Seven is set to give the show another chance. Mumbrella understands the show will return in 2022 with a tweaked format.
Seven chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette has also told the AFR that the show did its job. “We wanted Holey Moley to come in and do a job which was give us growth year-on-year on the timeslot against My Kitchen Rules, it did.
“Was it to the levels we had expected and hoped? No. Did it do the job we wanted it to as a minimum? Yes it did.
“The sponsors and partners that were on board… we made sure they met their objectives on the way through. In that respect, it was ok.”
Seven’s other new show, Ultimate Tag, won’t be going around again next year, Mumbrella has learned, which won’t be much of a surprise after the Seven bumped the show to multi-channel 7flix after just one week.
The show, which featured a game of tag including professional parkour competitors, sprinters, gymnasts, and martial arts athletes, launched to 447,000 metro viewers in early March, behind The Amazing Race and MAFS.
It was hosted also by Shirvington, this time with Abbey Gelmi, and was another format that originated in the US.
In his AFR chat, Burnette admitted: “…it didn’t work, it didn’t resonate with the audiences and sometimes that happens.”
Seven will air Big Brother, Farmer Wants a Wife, Australia’s Got Talent, and The Voice, as well as Australian Idol, across the rest of 2021.
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Zanda Wilson was a reporter and podcast producer at Mumbrella, specialising in radio reporting. He left Mumbrella in September 2021.
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