Reality TV Show Canceled: Reports Blame Bad Ratings

An epic adventure series hosted by Survivor star David Genat has been canceled after just a single season. Rush, Channel 9's globe-trotting escapade described by some viewers as a mashup of the hit reality series The Amazing Race and Survivor, was officially canceled by the network in September, just months after its July premiere, due to poor ratings and viewership that fell significantly throughout its debut season.

TV Blackbox was first to confirm the show's cancellation, with a representative for Channel 9 telling the outlet that despite the show's cancellation, the network is hoping to develop future projects with Genat. The representative said, "We loved working with him and we look forward to ongoing discussions for future projects." Details of those future projects were not teased.

The series debuted on Channel 9 in July and followed 12 everyday Australians, who were divided into three teams and dropped into exotic locations around the world. Deprived of their senses via the use of noise-canceling headphones and blackout goggles, contestants were dropped in the "Drop Zone," their starting point in the games. They had to complete a series of challenges for an ultimate prize of $100,000. The series drew comparisons to Survivor with its voting system, in which contestants must vote to eliminate one of their members in each episode.

Genat, who hosted the series, was a familiar face to viewers. The star first rose to fame back in 2002 when he competed in and won Network Ten's Search for a Supermodel contest and returned to reality TV in 2019 when he starred in Australian Survivor: Champions v Contenders. Although he became the 14th castaway voted out, he went on to become the Sole Survivor in the show's following season, Australian Survivor All-Stars. In 2021, he joined the cast of The Celebrity Apprentice but was ultimately fired in task seven. Of Rush, Genat said the show seemed like a perfect fit for him.

"It just felt tailor made for me so I immediately jumped on it," Genat told Nine after the show's debut, per the Daily Mail. "I got to see some of the greats do it – Jonathan LaPaglia on Survivor, Janine Allis on Celebrity Apprentice, you just get to see the way that works from the other side. I kind of take inspiration from what they were doing, and then just wanted to give it my unique spin."

Although Rush seemed poised for success with its comparisons to two other popular competition series – Survivor and The Amazing Race – it ultimately debuted to an underwhelming performance. Rush's July 2 series premiere only drew 301,000 viewers. Rather than improving, that number dropped over the following weeks, with only 270,000 viewers tuning in for the season finale, which now marks the series finale.