Greg James accuses Channel 4 of rushing out his flop reality show in a desperate move to challenge The Traitors
HE might be a maestro on the radio – but Greg James’ recent venture into reality TV proved to be a ratings flop.
The Radio 1 breakfast DJ hosted Channel 4’s version of The Traitors, Rise & Fall, last year but it was axed after just one series.
Now, Greg has laid blame at the feet of channel bosses who he feels rushed the show out.
He told Kathy Burke’s Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake podcast: “Yeah, it came along at the same time as The Traitors…
It was made by the same people, actually. And the idea was good.
“I really enjoyed doing it. I think they rushed it out because we were filming it before the end was shot.
“And I said, ‘you should have given it six months and edited this. This could have been really good’. But, you know, these things happen.
“Channel 4 came along and said, we’ve got this big TV show, do you want to do it? I went ‘yeah definitely’.”
The 18-episode show was made by Studio Lambert and, like The Traitors, featured two groups of people in one space competing to get hold of a large cash jackpot.
Sixteen players were split into Grafters and Rulers – with the former carrying out tasks in the basement to build a potential £100k prize pot that could only be won by a single Ruler.
Contestants at the bottom fought to win a place among their more fortunate counterparts, while those already at the top had to decide who should be sent down to the basement.
After disappointing viewing figures, channel bosses decided against splashing out more on a second series.
A TV insider told us earlier this year: “This won’t come to a shock to anyone within the TV industry as Rise and Fall is widely considered to be a very costly flop.
“It is one of the most pricey productions Channel 4 have aired in recent years but there were high hopes it might tap into some of the energy of The Traitors which was an instant hit when it aired in 2022.
“There was a small chance that they might have had another stab at making Rise and Fall a hit, but in the current climate C4 can’t justify shelling out millions on a project that is unlikely to get the viewing figures.”
Meanwhile, rival show The Traitors has gone from strength to strength on the BBC with the 2024 edition proving to be its most successful yet and a celebrity spin-off imminent.
Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake with Kathy Burke is available wherever you get your podcasts.
Who won Channel 4's Rise & Fall?
Software manager Eddy Fulford went head-to-head with the other Rulers Matt, Moses, Ramona and Sydney to prove himself as the most deserving of the £85,610 prize fund.
His family previously achieve notoriety in the Channel 4 series The F***ing Fulfords as well as appearing on BBC Three’s Life is Toff.
Eddy’s co-star, the political commentator Sophie Corcoran, spoke afterwards of the parallels between the experiment and real life society.
She told us: “I think it’s quite ironic that an aristocrat wins.
“But it just sums up the game perfectly, at one point, we had all men in the penthouse, and then an aristocrat wins.
“There was just so many parallels, you know, to society in every single episode.
“So it’s just kind of a perfect way to end with Eddy the aristocrat winning, but he does deserve to win.”