The Voice beats Gary Barlow’s Let It Shine in ratings war as one million viewers switch off BBC1 Take That show
The talent contest had a peak audience of 5.7million – down from last week’s premiere of 6.8million
THE Voice overtook Let It Shine in the Saturday night ratings battle after more than a million viewers switched off the BBC1 show.
Gary Barlow’s talent contest had a peak audience of 5.7million – down from last week’s premiere of 6.8million.
ITV rival The Voice pulled ahead with 6million after it was beaten by more than 400,000 viewers when the two shows first went head-to-head in a 25-minute overlap last Saturday.
It comes as the BBC accidentally branded their show as “s***” in a social media blunder.
A source said: “It’s the first time that people at home have been able to choose which show they wanted to watch – and more people have gone with The Voice.
“There was a lot of intrigue to see what Let It Shine was all about and it seems that people are quick to switch over and watch the established programme.
“The ratings battle is bound to intensify when they go on to the live rounds next month.”
On Saturday the official BBC Radio 2 Twitter account embarrassingly shared a post from one angry viewer who was unimpressed by the second episode of Let It Shine.
The post, shared to Radio 2’s 601,000 Twitter followers, read: “Opted not to subject myself to #LetItS**t and tuned into the delightful Liza Tarbuck @BBCRadio2 instead.”
The BBC admitted the social media mistake.
A spokesman told The Sun: “We like to shine a light on everyone, but the star-power of this tweet wasn’t quite there, so it had to be extinguished.
The Sun revealed the show was due for a viewer backlash after four more experienced West End stars auditioned in front of Gary, singer Dannii Minogue, both 45, Glee star Amber Riley, 30, and Spandau Ballet’s Martin Kemp, 55.
They are competing for a place to be in the boyband for Gary Barlow’s Take That musical which will tour the UK.
The Voice, now in its sixth series, peaked in the ratings when coach Sir Tom Jones sang Great Balls of Fire shortly before the last contestant performed.
Sir Tom, 76, is joined on the panel by show veteran Will.i.am, 41, Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, 51, and US superstar Jennifer Hudson, 35.