Hole In the Wall: FOX Pulls Ailing Game Show

After weeks of declining ratings, the FOX network has decided to pull its wacky reality game show, Hole In the Wall.

Based on a Japanese game show, Hole In the Wall contestants must contort their bodies to match weird and wacky cut-out shapes in a barrier wall that’s speeding their way. If they aren’t able to fit through the shapes, they’re swept into the pool below. The winning team takes home $25,000 and gets a chance to increase their winnings to $100,000.

FOX had initially planned to air The Moment of Truth for the Fall season but decided to delay it until midseason and debut Wall instead.

The network gave viewers half-hour “sneak previews” of the show on September 7th and 9th. The first episode attracted a respectable Sunday night audience of seven million and a 3.6/11 rating /share in the 18-34 demographic. Unfortunately, Tuesday’s sample episode drew only 5.1 million; 25% lower than its debut and a loss of four million viewers from its Fringe lead-in.

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Subsequent hour-long episodes began airing on Thursdays beginning on September 11. They dropped to a low of 3.54 million viewers. Wall seemed to be doing pretty well while its major Thursday night competitors were in repeats but once new episodes of the heavy-hitters began airing, the viewers kept disappearing.

The network has now decided to replace future Wall with repeats of Kitchen Nightmares. Chef Gordon Ramsay’s series will air in two-hour blocks for the foreseeable future. Nightmares has been outperforming Wall and was recently renewed for a third season which will begin airing in 2009.

FOX initially ordered 13 hour-long episodes of Wall and they were later cut into 26 half-hours. Ten half-hour episodes have aired thus far, leaving 16 on the shelf. It’s unclear if or when Wall will return to primetime. Stay tuned!