Yesterday, Spike TV released the ratings for the latest episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights:
“The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights” on Spike TV continues to be the undisputed champion of young men on Wednesday nights. The 2nd episode of the 10th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” on Wednesday, September 23 (10:00pm-11:00pm) drew 2.9 million viewers and was the top-rated program in Men 18-34 (1.2 million) in all of television, beating many highly-promoted series on network television including the debuts of “Cougar Town,” “Modern Family,” “Eastwick,” and new episodes of “Glee,” “Dancing With The Stars,” and “So You Think You Can Dance.”
Overall, the episode drew a 4.2 in Men 18-34, a 3.2 in M18-49 (1.8 million) and a 2.2 household rating. Also impressive was the repeat telecast at 11:00pm, which delivered 1.1 million viewers.
Payout Perspective:
To give you a better understanding and some context as to why everyone is raving about these ratings here are some things to consider:
- The only other TUF episode to garner a 2.0+ was the first episode of TUF 3.
- The average rating for a TUF episode is 1.3, but from TUF 4 through to TUF 9 the average has been just a 1.14.
- No TUF season has ever approached a 4.0 in M18-34, let alone the 5.3 or 4.2 TUF 10 has done back-to-back.
Also, consider that with Kimbo Slice fighting next week – and the resulting piggyback ratings on following episodes – the season is likely going to experience an extremely strong start.
If Kimbo can manage to defeat Roy Nelson the season will more than likely smash the previous ratings record – 1.69, TUF 3 – and average out at somewhere over the 2.0 mark.
Losing ratings already. Kimbo better win next week or this experiment will end up being a flash in the pan to garner some ratings early on. Next weeks show will surpass episode 1 & 2, but after that it’s lights out if Kimbo loses.
i guess rumor has it that kimbo does lose, knockout in the first round, there’s a video on youtube almost confirming it with a tito interview. if thats the case, this season will be the worst rated season ever if you exclude the first 3-4 shows in the rating average.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say this will be the worst rated show ever after first 3-4 shows.
1. Kimbo will still be on the show just not in a prominent roll
2. There is no reason it should be any lower than the other TUF seasons especially with Rampage and Rashad making things interesting. We know as of today they aren’t fighting but a lot of casual fans don’t know that
3. There will undoubtedly be some that will still tune in who were originally tuning in for Kimbo just to see how Nelson does.
4. This has been one of the best if not the best promoted of the entire series. A lot of it is on the back of Kimbo but more people know about this season than your average season.
So yes I do agree after Kimbo loses the ratings will drop substantialy but I don’t think it will be even close to the worst ratings ever after the first 3-4 episodes.