A RADICAL TV dating show has been dumped – after failing to woo viewers.
Love Triangle was inspired by the modern mode of finding romance, which is dominated by online dating and polygamy.
The E4 show was made by the team behind Married At First Sight Australia.
Its first outing last year failed to get the ratings Channel 4 bosses hoped for and, after the second series aired this spring, execs pulled the plug.
A TV insider said: “There were high hopes for the show partly because it came from the Oz Mafs creative team, and there was the hope they would work their magic on this new format.
“It also seemed to tap into a dating zeitgeist based on the idea that true love needn’t be found in a relationship only involving two people.
Sadistic
“Of course, it was very much a TV experiment, and a bold one at that.
“But it’s still been something of a disappointment, it didn’t get the following they wanted.”
Love Triangle followed a group of singletons as they spent two days getting to know two matches solely via text.
They didn’t know who they had been speaking to until they selected the person they wanted to go on a blind date with.
In another twist, they ended up moving into a house with their chosen date AND the person they initially rejected — forming a rather awkward menage a trois for viewers’ sadistic pleasure.
A spokeswoman for Channel 4 said: “There have been so many reality TV smash hits this year, we have had to make some tough decisions about what is returning.”
Mod-ern taboos
STAR of Netflix romance drama One Day, Ambika Mod is getting set for her sexy new stage role.
Posing for Porter magazine, she told the mag: “I’m ready to be taken seriously.
“I’m ready to feel like a woman.”
She portrays an academic who is hiding an addiction to violent porn in Porn Play, at Royal Court theatre, London, next month.
She added: “It scared me. But I was drawn to the messiness and the taboo nature of it all.”
The 2024 series One Day followed the on-off relationship of Emma (Mod) and Dexter (Leo Woodall).
To see the full interview with Ambika Mod read Porter here
TRY your hand at Hang Tough, Duel, The Wall and the legendary Eliminator at the new Gladiators Experience.
A hands-on version of the BBC hit show launches at the NEC Birmingham next May.
Fans will also be able to delve into the history of the TV show and join the Gladiator Training Facility.
Romesh versus the mic
ROMESH RANGANATHAN must be one of the busiest men in tellyland – and now he could be taking on the music charts as a hip-hop star.
The Weakest Leak and Rob & Romesh Vs . . . host has revealed that, during his downtime from fronting his various TV shows and sell-out stand-up gigs, he’s also making a debut album.
He says he’s just two tracks off completing it and in typical self-deprecating style, Romesh adds: “It’s going to be . . . small.”
Romesh is a huge fan of the genre, having made a podcast called Hip Hop Saved My Life, as well as 43 episodes of For The Love Of Hip Hop, for Radio 2.
Speaking on yet another of his podcasts, The Romesh Ranganathan Show, the comic claims recording music is just a “hobby” at the moment.
But if the record goes well, who knows? Jay-Z and Kanye may start looking over their shoulders.
HOMEOWNERS keen to spruce up their pad could get a free makeover courtesy of a new TV series.
Checkatrade will send a celebrity guest and a tradesman out to do up a room or garden that needs some love.
Interested? Apply to take part by emailing renovation@ trilogycasting.com..
Gazza’s X Factor audition
LOUIS WALSH was responsible for some of the most outrageous acts in X Factor history – so Paul Gascoigne saw him as his dream music mentor.
Gazza says he used to pepper the Irishman with late-night drunken phone calls in a bid to get him on the ITV show.
The England football legend says: “Someone I used to call a lot was Louis Walsh.
“I’d ring him, drunk, at 2am and sing Elvis Presely songs, then I’d joke: ‘Get us on the X Factor, Louis!’
“‘Gazza, would you f*** off’ he’d say. ‘It’s the middle of the night and I’m in bed’.”
In his new book, Eight, he admits he was “relentless” and kept bugging Louis.
“‘Listen to this,’ I’d say, and start singing Wooden Heart, before, eventually, Louis would hang up, laughing his head off.”
He’s probably heard a lot worse.
