Returning Gladiators win Saturday primetime transpennine eliminator, but audience down 43% on reboot’s S1 debut

There was a primetime transpennine face off on Saturday night as Sheffield Arena-based Gladiators returned for a second rebooted series on BBC One, squaring up to dock 10-shot Wheel of Fortune in the coveted teatime slot on ITV1.

Gladiators won the showdown on the night, with a 3.4m (29.3%) slot average, though that was no match for the 6m (38.2%) who tuned in to the reboot’s debut in the same slot in January 2024. It was also below the 4.2m (29%) average that the first series averaged across its 11-episode run.

Gladiators took a hefty chunk out of Graham Norton’s audience for Wheel of Fortune on ITV1, with the quiz drawing 2.2m (16%), the lowest audience so far for its own second rebooted series.

The BBC’s preening pugilists set the Beeb up for a solid couple of hours of Saturday night domination, with the return of Michael McIntyre’s Big Show drawing 4.3m (29.7%) in the slot following Gladiators, up against ITV’s The Masked Singer, which pulled 3.4m (25%).

Ant & Dec’s Limitless Win swung things for ITV in the 8.30pm slot with 2.9m (24.2%) on ITV1, against BBC1’s Pointless Celebrities with 2.1m (18.1%), according to Barb.

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