It’s been revealed that Hunted Australia was nearly cancelled in 2024, as Channel Ten is currently weighing up the cat-and-mouse show’s place in its schedule next year.
The popular series, which follows a cast of “Fugitives” trying to outlast 21 days on the run from a skilled team on “Hunters”, kicked off its third season on August 12.
However, it premiered to just 516,000 viewers, with one former Executive Producer from Ten confessing Hunted “fails” to hit the mark with audiences.
“Hunted was at a point where it needed to establish what it is as a format and find its core audience,” they told Yahoo Lifestyle.
The source then claimed the network was close to cutting the series completely. Then it “threw the show a lifeline and gave this current series one final epic attempt at winning over Australian audiences.”
“The show had been a bright spark for Network Ten but was probably not the right show to go up against the competitive offering on the other channels,” the former producer added.
Hunted Australia backlash lead to a drop in viewers
The production source told the outlet that inconsistencies on Hunted caused some “blowback” among viewers.
They claimed that this faux pas “took the audience out of the world they were creating” and caused them to turn Hunted Australia off.
“Viewers like to either know it’s factual or they want that nod to the camera that the show is ‘taking the Mickey’,” the source said. “In some ways, the show was taking itself too seriously, and there lies the problem with what it is delivering.
“Last year, they really rolled the same dice, and the network took a hit as the series dropped in ratings. To bring it back this year, the general consensus at the network was they needed to either make an effort to make it more believable or go for broke and come up with a bigger ‘bonkers’ concept that would hopefully wow people enough to forgive its flaws.
“They chose the latter, and that was a bold choice.”
The producer is referring to Ten adding a “million dollar heist” twist to Hunted 2024, in which the Fugitives begin the season “robbing” a bank.
According to Chief Hunter Reece Dewar OAM, adding the robbery aspect was the right move for the show.
“They are fugitives, they are on the run, and they robbed the Savings Bank of Ballarat of a million dollars,” he said.
“So I think that’s put a really deep divide in the audience and whether they’re going to go for the Hunters or go for the Fugitives.”
Will Hunted Australia return in 2025?
According to Yahoo Lifestyle‘s producer insider, the future of Hunted Australia is up in the air.
“The rumblings at Ten is that next year there will be two seasons of Survivor,” they said.
“I think that will be the replacement in 2025 for this time of the year.”
Channel Ten is yet to confirm its slate of programs for the new year. Stay tuned!
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