Larry Emdur celebrates overwhelming success of The Chase
<p>The Aussie game show <em>The Chase</em> has achieved overwhelming success, with the series recently receiving the highest ratings out of every entertainment show on TV.</p>
<p>The show, hosted by Larry Emdur, appeared on Seven in 2015, and consistently rises above its direct rival, Nine’s <em>Hot Seat</em> with Eddie McGuire, proving victorious in 2022 after winning 40 weeks with a total audience of 829,000.</p>
<p>By May 23, it attracted the largest audience of all TV entertainment programs, including those in the 7:30pm prime time slot.</p>
<p><em>The Chase</em>, which airs at 5pm, saw a staggering 567,000 viewers across the five-city metro rankings on May 23, well ahead of<em> Hot Seat</em>, which raked in 408,000.</p>
<p>It also beat some of the other prime time broadcasts, including Ten’s <em>MasterChef Australia</em>, which aired to 427,000 households. Seven’s <em>Highway Patrol</em> that received 350,000, ABC’s <em>7:30</em> report which came in at 438,000 and Nine’s new reality show <em>The Summit</em>, which had 395,000 viewers.</p>
<p>Additionally, <em>The Chase</em> trumped <em>The Project</em>, which aired at 7pm to 307,000 viewers. The only programs that were ahead of <em>The Chase</em> were the Seven and Nine early evening news bulletins and <em>A Current Affair</em>.</p>
<p>Emdur, who took over on the show in 2021 after former host Andrew O’Keefe’s contract wasn’t renewed, celebrated the show’s huge win on Instagram.</p>
<p>He shared a photo of his TV screen showing one of the Chasers, ‘The Governess’ Anne Hegerty, and thanked fans of the show for tuning in each afternoon.</p>
<p>“Thank you for making The Chase the number 1 Entertainment show in Australia [Tuesday] night,” he wrote.</p>
<p>“We had a bigger audience between 5-6pm than the big dogs in prime time, that makes me a very proud old game show host bimbo.”</p>
<p>And its success over the “big dogs” wasn’t a one-off, with <em>The Chase</em> once again trumping the ratings over prime time programs on May 25 with 543,000 viewers, ahead of <em>MasterChef</em> (390,000), Nine’s NRL coverage (338,000) and <em>Home And Away</em> (451,000).</p>
<p>The show’s success comes amid reports that channel Nine is testing new formats in its 5pm slot to bump up the competition.</p>
<p>In April, the network denied rumours that <em>Hot Seat</em> was being cut, despite putting out casting calls for new game shows.</p>
<p>The series started airing in 2009 as a spin-off of <em>Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? </em>which McGuire also hosted from 1999 until 2006.</p>
<p>However, a recent casting call fuelled rumours <em>Hot Seat</em> could be axed to make way for a local version of the hit UK game show <em>Tipping Point</em>, which airs on Nine at 3pm.</p>
<p>An official call-out from Endemol Shine Australia, the production company that makes <em>Tipping Point</em>, was released on Twitter in April, revealing the show was filming “Australian episodes” in the UK.</p>
<p>A move to record local episodes of <em>Tipping Point</em> follows similar plans from Nine to make Aussie episodes of US quiz show <em>Jeopardy!</em></p>
<p>The network confirmed in April that British comedian Stephen Fry would host a six-part special featuring Australian contestants. Production is currently underway in Manchester, UK.</p>
<p><em>TV Blackbox</em> editor Robert McKnight suggested the new program offerings from Nine could become a temporary “stunt” in Hot Seat’s time slot to “test the waters” among viewers.</p>
<p><em>Image credit: Instagram / Getty</em></p>
