Eddie McGuire announces Millionaire Hot Seat has been cancelled

The TV host has expressed his “sadness” as he announced the long-running game show Millionaire Hot Seat will not be renewed.

Eddie McGuire has announced his long-running game show Millionaire Hot Seat will not return to screens from next year.

After 14 years at the helm, the Australian TV veteran said the Channel 9 show would go “into hiatus” from January 2024.

Airing daily at 5pm, it’s the longest-running game show on Australian TV, having celebrated its 2500th episode in April. But Hot Seat’s viewership has dwindled in recent years, with Seven’s The Chase Australia often pipping it in the ratings war.

“With great pride and joy but also sadness, Millionaire Hot Seat will go into hiatus at the end of January next year,” McGuire told 3AW Friday morning.

“I want to thank everybody who came on the show those who’ve watched it over 25 years. It changed my life. It changed a lot of other people’s life. It’s been an absolute joy.

“The good news is, the show that will replace me will be produced out of Melbourne and the wonderful staff at GTV who have worked alongside me, hopefully would be a big part of it.”

Eddie McGuire has hosted Hot Seat for 14 years. Prior to that, he hosted the original format from 1999 until 2006.

The show began airing in 2009 as a spin-off to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, which McGuire also helmed from 1999 until 2006.

McGuire did not elaborate on which show would replace Hot Seat. Channel 9 told news.com.au an announcement would follow soon.

Nine’s Director of Television Michael Healy paid tribute to McGuire and the format for being “fundamental pillars” in the network’s programming.

“For 2024 there will be a change, but for this year we look forward to bringing more triumphant stories to those who love the show and who play along with Eddie,” Mr Healy said.

“For the past two and a half decades Eddie McGuire has made the show come to life, uncovered the great stories of our contestants and has had the pleasure of handing over thousands of dollars in cheques, we thank him for his commitment to the show over those years and for the shows still to come. We look forward to continuing our successful partnership with Eddie into the future.”

Millionaire Hot Seat has been axed from Nine from 2024.

It comes after Nine denied Hot Seat was headed for the axe earlier this year, after a casting call fuelled rumours it was to be canned to make way for a local version of popular UK game show Tipping Point, which airs on Nine in the 3pm timeslot.

An official call-out from Endemol Shine Australia – the production company that makes Tipping Point – was posted on Twitter in early April, revealing the show was filming “Australian episodes” in the UK.

Nine declined to comment on a local version of Tipping Point when approached by news.com.au at the time.

However, a spokesman claimed Millionaire Hot Seat “is not set to be axed.”

It seems a move to record local episodes of Tipping Point follows similar plans from Nine to make Australian episodes of US quiz show Jeopardy!

British comedian Stephen Fry is set to host a six-part special featuring Australian contestants. It began filming in May in Manchester, UK.

It comes as The Chase Australia has emerged as a sturdy ratings juggernaut for Seven, with host Larry Emdur recently celebrating a huge coup for the show.

The Chase Australia is hugely successful for Channel 7.

The local game series, which began airing in 2015, managed to attract the most eyeballs over all TV entertainment programs in late May, including those in the coveted 7.30pm slot.

The Chase, which screens at 5pm, aired to a whopping 567,000 viewers across the five-city metro rankings on May 23, well ahead of Hot Seat, which had 408,000.

It also pipped the likes of prime time powerhouses, including Ten’s MasterChef Australia, Seven’s Highway Patrol, ABC’s 7.30 report and Nine’s reality show The Summit, a feat it continued to achieve in the weeks afterwards.

Emdur, who took over on the show in 2021 after former host Andrew O’Keefe’s contract wasn’t renewed, took to Instagram to celebrate his game show’s huge win at the time.

Sharing a photo of his TV screen, which showed one of the Chasers, ‘The Governess’ Anne Hegerty, Emdur thanked fans of the show for tuning in each afternoon.

“Thank you for making The Chase the number 1 Entertainment show in Australia [Tuesday] night,” he wrote.

“We had a bigger audience between 5-6pm than the big dogs in prime time, that makes me a very proud old game show host bimbo.”