The Block wins the first round over Australian Survivor

IT GENERATED a lot of buzz online, but did Channel 10’s big gamble on an Australian version of Survivor pay off in the ratings?

THE tribe has spoken. The ageing format that is The Block managed outrate Channel Ten’s expensive new Australian Survivor production last night.

The decision to launch the 12th season of The Block a night earlier than planned saw Nine programmers outwit the opposition.

But Ten isn’t yet outplayed: Australian Survivor trended nationally and internationally on Twitter on debut, with the bulk of reaction giving the new Aussie take on the show the thumbs up.

The Block pulled 1.07 million metropolitan viewers while Australian Survivor hit 784,000 viewers.

The Block, which started half an hour earlier than Australian Survivor, bounced onto screens immediately after Nine News which drew 1.15 million viewers.

Australian Survivor started at 7.30pm and picked up more than 200,0000 viewers from its lead-in show, All Star Family Feud which had 528,000 metropolitan viewers.

Ten chief programming officer Beverley McGarvey was happy with the response to the first Survivor show.

“It attracted solid audience numbers on television and on social media, and increased Ten’s audience in its timeslot significantly,” she said.

#SurvivorAU it's hard to beat a Jeff Probst cold open, but Jonathan LaPaglia just did a pretty good job.

— Hurricane Heimann (@James_Heimann) August 21, 2016

@TheBlock so excited you are back. Crying laughing already @DanAndCarleen and the GPS #TheBlock

— Michelle De Pasquale (@michelledepas) August 21, 2016

“The feedback on the 24 contestants and our host Jonathan LaPaglia has been very positive.”

And she indicated Ten is far from outlasted.

“This is just the start. The rest of the series gets more exciting, spectacular and engaging, starting tonight with a brilliant challenge and tribal council,” McGarvey said.

Meanwhile as the Rio Olympics headed towards the finish line, Channel Seven’s In Rio Today had 755,000 viewers.

The scene is set for another face-off tonight when Seven, now free of its Olympics commitments adds its Adriana Zumbo cooking experiment, Zumbo’s Just Desserts, to the reality show mix at 7.30pm.