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- MediaGuardian,
- Wednesday May 30 2001
Survivor slumped to its lowest ratings yet last night, with more than 1m viewers switching off in the last 24 hours.
Tuesday night's studio show, which focused on the evictee, Uzma, attracted just 4.2m viewers to ITV.
And as the PR effort to keep the show on the front pages redoubled with more tales about Charlotte Hobrough's sex life, there was more bad news for ITV's director of programmes, David Liddiment.
The rival Channel 4 reality show, Big Brother, recorded its best figures so far, with 3.7m viewers.
According to unnofficial overnight figures, Survivor pulled in 4.2m viewers - just over one in four of the available audience.
And in a rare victory for BBC1, the medical drama, Holby City, trounced ITV with 7.2m viewers and a 35% audience share.
The figures mean the pressure now mounting on ITV chiefs to move the Survivor studio show, which is presented by John Leslie, to a later slot.
Monday night's 60-minute show from Survivor Island, which culminated in Uzma being evicted, was watched by 5.3m viewers.
Advertisers will not be happy to have the show damaged further by a studio show few people are watching.
The last studio interview with an evictee, Friday night's encounter with the acerbic, JJ Adams, drew 5.1m.
Last night's Big Brother no doubt benefited from being scheduled against news bulletins on BBC1 and ITV between 10pm and 10.30pm.
Big Brother had 3.7m viewers and an 18% audience share.
The Channel 4 contender is also beating Survivor in the key 16 to 34-year-old viewing demographic that both reality shows are targeting.
Last night, Big Brother attracted around 2m 16 to 34-year-olds - double the Survivor figures.
And on Monday night, more than 50% of the Big Brother audience, or around 2.2m viewers, came from this age group.
On the same night, Survivor attracted 1.7m 16 to 34-year-olds.
The other big winner last night was Channel 5; its terrestrial premiere of the sci-fi movie, Sphere, led the way between 9pm and 11.35pm.
Sphere, which starred Dustin Hoffman and Sharon Stone, had 2.5m viewers and a 14% audience share.
Channel 5's Charles and Camilla also scored well between 8pm and 9pm.
The royal documentary had 1.6 viewers and an 8% audience share.
