ITV's 'most expensive flop in years' fronted by David Tennant facing the axe after getting fewer viewers than niche nature documentary
Hosted by David Tennant, The Genius Game is reported to have cost £2.5 million to make, but despite the huge investment, it had average viewership numbers of 661,000 after a promising start.
This matched the viewership figures of BBC2's Pangolins: The World's Most Wanted Animal, which examines the plight of the endangered animals also known as scaly anteaters.
An insider told The Sun: 'Publicly ITV maintains that no firm decision has been taken, but most execs and commissioners view it as a disaster.
'Not only did it occupy a primetime 9pm slot, it had a big-name host and was seen as a potential rival for BBC 's The Traitors.
'But of the five main channels on June 11, it was beaten by two and equalled by BBC2, thanks to those pangolins.'
The Genius Game is intellect-based and sees contestants put their IQ to the test in never-before-seen games and manipulate each other for a cash prize, but many found it confusing and difficult to understand.
While the show had a promising 1.5 million viewers when it first aired in April, by the second episode this number had plummeted to 846,000 viewers.
To put this into context compared to other primetime TV shows, BBC1's Race Across The World attracted 4.2 million viewers at the same time.
ITV has said: 'No decision has yet been made.'
News of the show's uncertain future comes after its broadcast schedule was changed amid plummeting viewer numbers.
When it first premiered, Genius Game was set to air on Wednesday and Thursday.
But now, there was a change in the schedule and it was subsequently only broadcast on Wednesday evenings.
Jeremy Clarkson's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? celebrity specials were then moved into its Thursday slot for two weeks in May.
The shake-up meant the show was spread out over seven weeks instead of four.
It comes after many viewers during the first episode took issue with the new program and commented on how 'complicated' it seemed, with many not understanding the premise
It comes after many viewers during the first episode took issue with the program and commented on how 'complicated' it seemed, with many not understanding the premise.
Some took to social media to share their concerns and posted on X: 'Just starting this. Seems very complicated. I'll watch it out but not looking good tbh #GeniusGame.'
One watcher turned off the show in just ten minutes and penned: 'Bye bye.'
Others said: 'Sorry #GeniusGame it's a no from me, way too complicated for that time of night, I need mindless entertainment after a busy day, ITV should've just extended #CBBUK instead.'
'I'm struggling to understand. I'm clearly no genius, the rules on rules on rules are something else #GeniusGame.'
The MailOnline has reached out to ITV for comment.
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