The fate of Channel 10’s reality shows The Masked Singer and The Bachelor have been confirmed.
Channel 10 has confirmed The Masked Singer and The Bachelor will not be returning this year.
It comes after panellist Dave Hughes dropped the bombshell on his radio show that there was no production schedule for The Masked Singer in sight, and Osher Günsberg hinted The Bachelor was also off the cards.
“Network 10 will be packing away the masks and roses this year, confirming that The Masked Singer and The Bachelor franchises won’t appear in its program schedule,” a Channel 10 spokesman told news.com.au in a statement.
“Both franchises have been hosted by television presenter extraordinaire Osher Günsberg from their inception.
“The resting of The Masked Singer Australia and The Bachelor franchise will give Osher a moment to rest his voice which has worked overtime screaming ‘Take It Off’ and simultaneously dropping to a whisper to deliver the iconic line of ‘I’m sorry, but you did not receive a rose’.
“Osher will narrate Season 18 of Bondi Rescue, which will return later in 2024 and remains a much-loved presenter and friend of Network 10.”
Osher Günsberg is host of The Masked Singer and The Bachelor.
Comedian Dave Hughes, who has been a panellist on The Masked Singer for all five seasons in Australia, made the grim admission on radio this morning.
“We’ve been waiting on a production schedule. That production schedule has not come through, so as far as I know, The Masked Singer won’t be filmed this year for Channel 10,” Hughes said on his show Hughesy, Ed and Erin on 2Day FM.
“We’ve had such a great time over those years, it’s been such a fun show to be on, so many great singers have been on,” he continued. “We’ve had great panels. We started with Jackie O, Dannii Minogue, [Lindsay] Lohan, then Urzila Carlson came in, we’ve got Abbie Chatfield, Chrissy Swan, Mel B. All stars in their own right.
“It’s a tough one for the production team.”
Later in the broadcast, the trio called Günsberg on the show and he addressed speculation The Bachelor franchise was also facing the chop.
“I tell you what, I haven’t cancelled our trip to Fiji, which is in the middle of the shooting window we normally have [for The Bachelor],” Günsberg, who has been host of the dating show since 2013, said.
The Masked Singer Australia’s panellists have changed over the five seasons but Dave Hughes has been there since the start.
He criticised Australian TV for putting British and American shows on prime time.
“I personally feel we really need to value our own stories, and our culture, and our own voices far more highly,” he said. “And we’ve got to do what we need to do to make that happen on our screens.
“If we’re not going to sing our own songs and tell our own stories – we’re just going to be this weird echo of the US and the UK, and that’s not going to work out well for us.”
The 11th season of The Bachelor last year premiered to the franchise’s lowest ratings in its decade-long history. It lured just 224,000 five-city metro viewers, with a total audience of 319,000.
Osher Gunsberg has lost the two big hosting gigs this year but says it’s part of the job.
Hughes said he had also spoken to fellow panellist Chatfield about The Masked Singer news and said they were feeling “flat”.
“I think it will come back, I don’t know when, but I’d say that for the Channel 10 budget this year – doesn’t have enough money for it,” he said.
“Apparently it’s an expensive show to produce.”
Radio co-host Erin Molan said Hughes had “hit the nail on the head”.
“The costumes, the big name celebrities – there’s no other show on Australian TV that gets those big name American celebrities, and it costs a whole hell of a lot of money,” she said.
“I’m not being disparaging of Channel 10 – they’re a great network – but they’ve had a rough year … the whole revenue system is dwindling when it comes to TV which is just a reality we all have to face.
“What I’m saying is it’s not not coming back because it wasn’t brilliant or didn’t do well with audiences because it did, it’s just super expensive and they’ve got to obviously prioritise other projects.”
Some of the big names who have done the Australian version of the show include Michelle Williams, Nikki Webster and Cody Simpson.
Hughes said he was convinced the reality show “will find another home at some point, probably sooner rather than later.”
It comes just days after TV Tonight reported producers Warner Bros TV had been “gauging interest from rival networks” for the franchise.
The Masked Singer and The Bachelors was announced at Channel 10’s Upfronts back in October for 2024.
At the time, TV Blackbox reported the network would deliver its worst ratings share since OzTAM ratings began in 2001.
Günsberg said on Tuesday the news of his shows not returning was something he was always prepared for, referring to the time he was standing next to Hughes for the 2009 Upfronts when Australian Idol was confirmed to be coming back the following year.
“It never came back,” he said. “This is the job that I chose.”
He added: “Like anything, things come and go, that’s all right, that’s the gig and it’s fine. I know the show is not not coming back because I did a bad job, I can tell you that.”
