It was meant to fill the wintry void in February, left by a mid-year lack of Love Island.
But ITV’s Survival Of The Fittest has failed to… survive; as the network has axed it thanks to its ‘ambitious’ production budget.
Set in South Africa, the show saw a troupe of gym-honed singletons dumped in the savanna, set tasks to test their fitness and try to resist one another at the same time due to the Girls V Boys theme.
Dead in the water: Survival Of The Fittest has failed to… survive
But the Laura Whitmore-fronted show never really seemed to take off.
A spokesperson for ITV commented: ‘There are no current plans for a further series of Survival Of The Fittest.
‘It was an ambitious and brilliantly produced show and we’d like to thank Laura, Brennan and all the team who worked on it.’
The show notably saw Dani Dyer – actor Danny’s eldest daughter – make her reality TV debut, before she was injured in a task at the start and sent home.
Axed: The Laura Whitmore-fronted show never really seemed to take off
Before she was famous: The show notably saw Dani Dyer – actor Danny’s eldest daughter – make her reality TV debut, before she was injured in a task at the start and sent home
This fateful accident paved the way for her to take part on Love Island six months later, which she eventually went on to win with now-boyfriend Jack Fincham.
Ex-contestant of the show, David Lundy – who shared one of the most talked-about romances of the series with Georgia Cole, before making it all the way to the finale – commented on ITV cancelling the show.
Speaking to MailOnline he said: ‘I’m sad to see they’re not pursuing another series although I can’t say it comes as a massive shock.
‘The experience and memories I made whilst in South Africa with both cast and producers were all of a good nature, but when you have an already quite dominant reality TV show [Love Island] on the books this one was always going to be in the shadows.
‘Not surprised!’ Ex-contestant of the show, David Lundy – who shared one of the most talked-about romances of the series with Georgia Cole, before making it all the way to the finale – commented on ITV cancelling the show
Speaking to MailOnline he said: ‘I’m sad to see they’re not pursuing another series although I can’t say it comes as a massive shock’
‘Althought the numbers may not have stacked up it definitely had an impact! We need to see more genuine characters on TV and I think another Survival Of The Fittest could have provided that. We will never know!’
Elsewhere, ex-contestants Warren Phillips and Mariam Musa sparked a romance on the show and have remained together.
Love Island returned to screens months later and ended up producing a record-breaking fourth season, demonstrating that it’s still at the top of it’s game.