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Gordon Ramsay’s Bank Balance has been axed after just one series.
The 54-year-old chef’s show kicked off on 24 February with over two million viewers, but amid declining ratings and viewer confusion, the BBC confirmed the show would not return for a second series.
A BBC spokesman told MailOnline, said: ‘There are no current plans for another series of Bank Balance.’
Over and out: Gordon Ramsay’s Bank Balance has been axed after just one series
The BBC One show aired nine episodes in February and pulled in 2.7million viewers at the height of its success.
The show, which was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, isn’t over for good though, as the chef’s Studio Ramsay is in talks with Fox to bring the programme to the US.
Bank Balance saw contestants try to answer questions correctly in order to gain stacks of gold bars and ultimately win a jackpot of up to £100,000.
Gordon previously admitted he ‘needed room to breathe’ as the host of the game show.
Not to be: The 54-year-old chef’s show kicked off on 24 February with over two million viewers, but amid declining ratings and viewer confusion, the BBC confirmed the show would not return for a second series
He explained: ‘I didn’t go up there all cocksure about becoming a phenomenal game show host, I wanted to be me.
‘And I think, on the back of that level of support from the BBC, and not [putting me] in a straitjacket, I needed room to breathe.
‘And so there’s something pretty dynamic about being given a show at 9pm.’
And the ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ star insisted he was ‘driven’ for the contestants on the show to do well.
He added: ‘These are real people who are experiencing some awkward, difficult, traumatic times. And £100,000 is quite life-changing money.
There’s nothing wrong with telling them, ‘I want you to do well … but I’ll be really [annoyed] if you don’t win.
Foray: The BBC One show aired nine episodes in February and pulled in 2.7million viewers at the height of its success
‘It’s a tough show to launch, and there are so many moving parts, so you’ve got to be this multi-faceted, caring, firm but fair, and driven to get the contestants some money. And if they don’t do well, I feel bad, I take it personally.’
Back in March, it was reported Bank Balance viewers had rapidly dropped to just 1.6 million within two days.
BBC bosses were reportedly said to be considering ‘pulling the plug’ on the game show with its ‘future hanging in the balance’.
A source told The Daily Star: ‘The top brass at the BBC are already saying they don’t know if they want to commit to a second series. Its future is hanging in the balance.’
The new show was said to have been a ‘big gamble’ for the channel amid its big budget and primetime slot three nights per week.
MailOnline contacted a representative of the BBC, who declined to comment anything further.
Risk: The show, which was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, isn’t over for good though, as the chef’s Studio Ramsay is in talks with Fox to bring the programme to the US
The show was also lambasted on social media for its ‘annoying’ contestants, ‘confusing’ rules and ‘cringe-worthy’ banter.
Bank Balance was beaten out in the ratings by the finale of ITV rival The Bay.
While other games shows such as The Chase attracted 4.4 million on last Wednesday’s 5pm show, while Danny Dyer’s The Wall pulled in about 4 million watchers.
It comes after Bank Balance left viewers decidedly unimpressed when it launched, with many fans questioning the show’s ‘slow moving’ format and ‘cheap set.’
Others were quick to compare the eye-catching gold set to the TARDIS, a famous time machine that featured on BBC’s sci-fi staple Doctor Who.
TV critics were similarly damning, with the Daily Mail’s Christopher Stevens giving the show a two-star rating.
New series: The show sees a team of two contestants answer questions from 12 subject categories and are rewarded with bars of gold for correct answers (pictured, the bars)
‘I think it’s one and done for me with #GordonRamsaysBankBalance,’ tweeted one viewer. ‘There’s no excitement or pace to the show everything feels laboured and takes way to long plus the rules need changing.’
The show sees a team of two contestants answer questions from 12 subject categories and are rewarded with bars of gold for correct answers.
As it’s accrued, the bullion must be strategically stacked on a precariously balanced platform like a four-way seesaw so that the stacks stay standing.
Get the weighting wrong and the whole lot crashes to the ground, meaning it’s game over for that team; but get the balance right – as well as negotiating the 12 rounds of questions – and the pair can win the jackpot of £100,000.
Although Gordon declared the instructions ‘simple’, viewers were left baffled.
Struggle: The series was lambasted on social media for its ‘annoying’ contestants, ‘confusing’ rules and ‘cringe-worthy’ banter
We don’t like it! Viewers were left unimpressed and questioned how the TV show was ever commissioned
Some compared it to Friends’ fictional game show ‘Bamboozled’, which had famously convoluted rules.
In his review, Stevens pointed to Ramsay’s apparent unease on set, writing: ‘It’s obvious within minutes that he doesn’t have the telly skills for this show, because he simply cannot think on his feet. Without a scripted quip, he’s floundering, ten seconds behind the action.
‘His first contestants, brother and sister Tosin and Tobi, were a polished double act of noisy show-offs. Bickering like children, they’d have been a gift to a real gameshow host. Alexander Armstrong and Joe Lycett wake up praying for a couple like this in the studio.
‘Gordon had no idea what to do with them. He behaved like a maitre d’ in a restaurant, politely waiting to one side until his customers finish having their public row. Simpering with embarrassment, he chipped in: ‘Psst! I’m still here, you know’.’
However a handful of Twitter users were pleased to see Ramsay taking on a new role, with one saying she ‘lives’ for him as a game show host.
Bank Balance was only beaten by ITV in its time slow, with 3.38 million viewers tuning for the final episode of The Bay, while 1.41 million turned on BBC Two for the documentary Trump Takes on the World.
The show also lost half the viewers that had tuned in for The Repair Shop, which drew a solid 5.2 million when it aired on BBC One an hour earlier.
BBC bosses have taken a huge gamble on Bank Balance by airing the 10-part series in its prime slot of 9pm for three nights each week.
Its launch numbers were decidedly lower than other game shows on the channel, including Michael Jackson’s The Wheel, which earned around five million viewers, and Danny Dyer’s The Wall, which pulled in four million.
How do you follow it? Although Gordon declared the instructions ‘simple’, viewers were left baffled, with some comparing it to Friends’ fictional game show ‘Bamboozled’
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