Divisive media personality Magda Szubanski’s Weakest Link show takes dramatic ratings dive

Ratings tumble for controversial host Magda Szubanski’s much-hyped quiz program, with viewers saying ‘goodbye’ in droves, raising speculation over its future.

Magda Szubanski hosts The Weakest Link. Picture: Channel 9

Controversial personality Magda Szubanski’s return to the TV screens hosting the Weakest Link has taken a turn for the worse after a dramatic tumble in ratings.

The revived game show has plummeted in the ratings in just its second week, shedding more than 123,000 viewers since its May 25 launch across the five major capitals to fall to just 300,000 viewers.

The program also lost its 9pm timeslot to Seven’s The Good Doctor, which drew 343,000 viewers.

The much-hyped program failed to make the top 20 viewed programs on Tuesday night and fell to position 26.

It raises speculation as to whether Nine will shift the show to a different timeslot, after it shed 29 per cent of its viewers from its debut week.

The program has hit many bumps along the way and was a public-relations nightmare for Nine after Szubanksi lashed out at the Prime Minister’s wife, Jenny Morrison, on Twitter.

The comedian used the social media platform to comment on a photo posted online of Mrs Morrison standing near her husband while he signed a condolence book for Prince Philip following the royal’s death.

Szubanski referred to the image and tweeted: “I genuinely thought this was a photoshopped Handmaid Tale’s meme. But no. It’s 21st century Aussie life.”

The Handmaid’s Tale is an American dystopian tragedy television series where married women are subservient to their husbands.

Szubanski also retweeted far-left activist group Mad F***** Witches post about the photo: “Good morning to everyone else to whom this feels creepy, chilling, terrifying, ominous, enraging, despairing and utterly, completely f****** depressing.”

Several days later Szubanski was interviewed on Nine’s A Current Affair program and said her comments about Jenny Morrison and the photo had “blown up into something I wouldn’t have anticipated.”

“I don’t want to hurt her,” she told host Tracy Grimshaw.

Szubanski’s Twitter post is understood to have led to the show’s debut being delayed.

It was originally scheduled to air on May 4 but this was pushed back three weeks, which Nine blamed on a “tight production schedule”.

Last week Nine’s program director Hamish Turner said, “We’re extremely happy with the launch of The Weakest Link which won its timeslot and lead in all the key demographics”.

On Wednesday, Nine declined to comment on the Weakest Link’s ratings.