Shock return for TV classic Australian Idol after 13 years

Who saw this coming? Seven just unveiled its 2021 line-up – and one iconic Aussie show is back after a 12-year absence.

SAS Australia, The Voice, Big Brother, Farmer Wants A Wife and Australia’s Got Talent are all on the Seven Network’s line-up for 2021, announced today.

And in a surprise saved for the final seconds of Seven’s Upfronts presentation, the network revealed it will air a new season of Australian Idol in 2022, some 12 years after the franchise finished up on the Ten Network.

No word yet on who will host or judge on Idol, but the show produced Australian household names like Guy Sebastian, Jessica Mauboy, Casey Donovan and Stan Walker across its seven seasons on Ten. Can Seven repeat the magic more than a so many years later?

Australian Idol's coming to Seven.

Safe to say Idol fans are happy to hear it’s returning:

Australian Idol was my entire life in high school. Genuinely thrilled to hear it’s returning ❤️

— Joel Creasey (@joelcreasey) October 21, 2020

Now that #AustralianIdol is coming back, it’s almost imperative that @oshergunsberg hosts! 🤞🏼❤️

— Amy Spilkin (@amy_spilkin) October 21, 2020

Huge News...Australian Idol is coming back to the telly 📺 pic.twitter.com/W11dam3DXL

— Lewis Haskew🎙 (@LewisHaskew) October 21, 2020

While others questioned Seven’s decision to have three singing-based TV talent shows - The Voice, Australian Idol and Australia’s Got Talent - on their roster:

Australian Idol, The Voice AND Australia's Got Talent. This is a bad bad decision. These brands will eat each other. Should have just brought back Idol #7Upfront

— Adam Rida (@AdamRida) October 21, 2020

Australian Idol and the Voice in the same year on the same channel? That's a lot of talent to unearth/rediscover... https://t.co/qn3EpTNqh6

— cameron adams (@cameron_adams) October 21, 2020

Meanwhile, lesser-performing shows like House Rules, My Kitchen Rules and the instant flop Plate of Origin are nowhere to be seen on the network’s slate for next year.

New to Seven in 2021: The Voice, which the network controversially poached from Nine earlier this year; and two wholesome game-style programs suggest Seven’s looking to get a slice of Nine’s Lego Masters family-friendly pie: extreme mini golf program, Holey Moley, which has been a hit in the US; and Ultimate Tag, “the world’s fastest show which takes the game of tag to a scale never seen before.”

SAS Australia has been an instant hit for Seven.

This week’s most-talked about TV show SAS Australia will return after making a big impact on viewers after only two episodes so far. Feel good fan favourite The All New Monty will also come back, with another cast of Aussie celebs ready to disrobe for a good cause.

There’s no movement in the network’s brekkie TV line-up, with Sunrise co-hosts David Koch and Samantha Armytage, newsreader Natalie Barr, sports presenter Mark Beretta, entertainment reporter Edwina Bartholomew, and weatherman Sam Mac all down to return for 2021.

Sonia Kruger hosts The Voice.

But there’s no word yet on exactly who will join host Sonia Kruger in the red chairs as coaches on The Voice. Have Seven tried to nab tried-and-tested The Voice judges Delta Goodrem and Guy Sebastian from Nine, or will they opt for a clean slate of judging talent?

Matt Preston, Manu Feildel and Gary Mehigan’s Plate Of Origin will not return. Picture: Supplied/Seven

It should come as no surprise that Seven’s most visible flop, Plate Of Origin, won’t return in 2021: Despite uniting beloved MasterChef judges Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan with My Kitchen Rules’ Manu Feildel, the show was an instant ratings bomb, with one TV commentator declaring the show “dead” after just two episodes.

Long-running cooking show My Kitchen Rules is also nowhere to be seen after 11 seasons on Seven - but after ratings took a dive in 2020, controversial judge Pete Evans exited the network and reinvented himself as an online conspiracy theorist.

A slightly more surprising absence is House Rules, which has aired consistently for eight seasons on Seven – although 2020 was the show’s lowest-rated series to date.