Channel 7 revives Australian Idol, drops My Kitchen Rules in 2021
Channel 7 has brutally dumped a bunch of its staple reality programs but it isn’t all bad news for fans, with an iconic Aussie show set to make its grand return. SEE WHAT WAS CHOPPED AND WHAT WAS SAVED.
Confidential
Don't miss out on the headlines from Confidential. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Australian Idol is in while My Kitchen Rules is out.
Channel 7 has announced it will relaunch much loved singing show Australian Idol while MKR has been shelved.
MKR is the one-time powerhouse reality show that limped through its last season on Channel 7 with the broadcaster not pushing ahead with the format in 2021.
House Rules has also been ‘rested’ while the Matt Preston, Manu Feildel and Gary Mehigan led series Plate of Origin has been axed as Seven announced its programming slate for the year ahead. It is part of Seven’s overall strategy to move away from in-house productions.
“My Kitchen Rules did incredibly well for 10 years and it was really season 11 that it failed,” Seven West Media boss James Warburton told Confidential. “It had been stretched and super-sized to a very big commitment of around 40 episodes. We think that we do have a very strong pedigree in cooking but it is time to rest it, look at how we refresh it and probably look at how we bring it back when we have more momentum to help launch it.”
Seven will however push ahead with new seasons of Big Brother, Australia’s Got Talent, Farmer Wants A Wife, SAS Australia and The Voice, which it poached from rival Nine earlier this year.
And, Australian Idol will be back on air in 2022, 13 years since it last aired on Channel 10.
MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS:
Who Schapelle would pick to play her in a movie
Isabel Lucas’ Byron Bay 5G ‘conspiracy’ protest
Hugh Sheridan ‘overwhelmed’ after coming out
Australian Idol is a shock addition to Seven’s programming slate. Reviving the format will mean the channel holds both major reality singing show formats in Idol and The Voice.
Idol of course ran on Channel 10 from 2003 to 2009 and is responsible for the careers of artists including Guy Sebastian, Casey Donovan, Jessica Mauboy and Shannon Noll.
“Australian Idol, it has to be at the scale of what you think back to the scale of what it was,” Warburton said. “It has to be on serious steroids and deliver that big scale entertainment.”
MKR meanwhile, fronted by judges Manu Feildel, Pete Evans and Colin Fassnidge, has been a flagship show and one-time ratings juggernaut for Seven over the past decade.
Of the axing, Evans told Confidential: “What a memorable journey to be included in one of Australia’s top TV shows for over a decade with my dear friends. TV shows like MKR and MasterChef have helped bring much needed awareness and education to generations of Australian and overseas audiences, regarding the beautiful gift of home cooking and the culinary arts and for that opportunity I am extremely and forever grateful to Channel 7 and Channel 10 for providing those platforms. I do hope that the love of cooking continues for generations to come and who knows … maybe a health version will be the next offering.”
Elsewhere in Seven’s programming announcement, the network did not reveal who will be on the coaching panel on The Voice with much industry chatter about whether or not any previous coaches will return.
Sunrise producer Michael Pell recently let slip that Seven was in talks with superstar Mariah Carey for a position on the show.
“We are targeting the biggest and best stars across the globe so the notion that Seven are going to run a cut price Voice is complete BS,” Warburton explained. “We are focusing on big new reinvented fresh panel. We have been in discussions with a whole range of people in various markets, as well as some local Australian talent as well. Now we have also got Australian Idol so we have been casting the net there as well.”
Sonia Kruger will be hosting The Voice, as well as Big Brother and minigolf celebrity reality series Holey Moley.
As for TV drama, Home And Away will return in 2021 as well as a new series, RFDS, based on the frontline workers of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
Justine Clarke, Stephen Peacocke, Rob Collins and Emma Hamilton will star in RFDS.
Australian Gangster will also premiere on the channel with little detail on the series provided.
With COVID-19 pushing back the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to next year, Seven will broadcast the international sports meet, as well as the Paralympics. Seven months later, it will broadcast the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
That is on top of its coverage of Supercars, cricket and horse racing.