Yahoo Lifestyle 
Surprising reason popular Channel Ten reality show was almost axed: 'One last shot'
EXCLUSIVE: Hunted is back for a third season but an insider claims it almost faced the chopping block.
Series 3 of Hunted launched on Monday night (August 12) with a new crew of fugitives trying to evade capture and seize one million dollars. The new season featured an exciting, fresh twist, with a staged bank robbery taking place in the first 30 minutes of the show.
"Season one and season two really didn't have it, so it was really hard to determine why individuals were fugitives and you didn't have that clear divide of whether you supported the fugitives or supported the hunters," Hunted Chief Reece Dewar OAM told Yahoo Lifestyle of the change. "I think we've actually achieved that in season three."
Despite shaking things up a little, however, Hunted premiered on a tough night - going up against the long-awaited premiere of The Block Island 2024, the Dancing With the Stars finale and the death of a fan favourite on Home and Away, among others.
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Final season for Hunted?
The show ranked 13th for the night with a household reach of 1.2 million and a viewership of 516,000 with a former Executive Producer from Ten revealing why he believes the show 'fails' to resonate with audiences.
“Hunted was at a point where it needed to establish what it is as a format and find its core audience," the source told Yahoo Lifestyle, claiming that the network was close to axing the show before giving it one last shot. According to the insider Channel Ten "threw the show a lifeline and gave this current series one final epic attempt at winning over Australian audiences."
They continued, "The show had been a bright spark for Network 10 but was probably not the right show to go up against the competitive offering on the other channels."
"The rumblings at Ten is that next year there will be two seasons of Survivor and I think that will be the replacement in 2025 for this time of the year," the source said - although Yahoo Lifestyle understands that not to be the case.
Of course, it is way too early to tell if the first night of ratings for the show will be a harbinger of what's to come for the rest of the season - especially on such a big night of TV and coming off the back of the Olympics.
Backlash from viewers
“Network 10 launched Hunted a few years back with strong numbers for the network," our source says. "The idea really brought in an audience who were starving for something new. Around the same time, Channel Seven was rebooting shows like The Voice Australia, Big Brother, Dancing With The Stars and Australian Idol. They were all old formats that people had seen before. Also, Channel Nine had established shows that were staples like The Block and MAFS but Channel 10 taking a gamble on something new did seem to pay off and the concept was quite celebrated.”
The former EP goes on to say that there was some "blowback" about a few inconsistencies in the show that "took the audience out of the world they were creating" and that this may have affected viewership.
"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."
While it may not yet be reflected in the ratings, Reece is confident that the new approach was the right move.
"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 to the Fugitives.
Difficulties keeping viewers engaged
However, our insider worries that the new concept won't be enough to keep viewers invested, citing a different issue with the series - one that was also picked up by some viewers.
“The eye roll I think Channel Ten should have been preparing themselves for is viewers taking issue with the casting being so specific to the challenge at hand," the former executive producer says. "They have a bank teller robbing a bank. They have a girl whose dad is a well-known bank robber and then a rally car driver for the getaway car.
With all these contestants playing it as a surprise, it really takes you out of the concept in episode one. It felt very staged."
As one viewer wrote online, "I'm having trouble taking this show seriously knowing that a lot of it is recreated and pre-planned."
However, despite a shaky start to the ratings, there have been plenty of positive viewer reactions to the premiere episode.
SHOP
"What an awesome first 22 minutes! Can this commercial hurry up and piss off so that we can see some more action???," one enthusiastic viewer wrote.
"I actually love this new concept of bank robbery at the start. Much more exciting!" another said.
"So glad this show is back!" another weighed in.
"I'm really proud of season three so far," Reece told Yahoo Lifestyle.
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