ITV viewers have slammed the new series of Wheel of Fortune, which is hosted by Graham Norton, after it premiered on Saturday night.
The same episode, which was met with a lukewarm reception, was then aired on Sunday night, despite being marketed as a “new episode.” This left viewers fuming, with many taking to social media to call out ITV for “taking the mick” with their scheduling.
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Wheel of Fortune is back on ITV with Graham Norton as the hostCredit: ITV
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But viewers were left fuming after ITV aired a repeat show instead of new episode on SundayCredit: ITV
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Viewers also voiced their concerns about the game show’s new digital tilesCredit: ITV
Iconic game show Wheel of Fortune ran from 1998 until 2001, but returned on Saturday night with BBC talk show host Graham Norton taking over from previous presenters John Leslie, Nicky Campbell and Bradley Walsh.
The first episode was met with mixed reviews, but many viewers tuned into ITV again on Sunday night for what they believed would be the second episode of the rebooted series.
Instead, they found themselves watching a repeat of Saturday night’s episode.
Many viewers quickly took to X, formerly Twitter, as they fumed about ITV’s poor scheduling.
“Are you taking the mick ITV? Repeating the same programme from 24 hours ago?” one viewer fumed.
“So, ITV are repeating programmes after less than 24 hours but still advertising the episode as ‘new,’” criticised another viewer.
A third commented: “What’s with all the repeats on BBC, ITV and Channel 4 & 5? Today Wheel of Fortune was on yesterday and repeated today. Just one of many over the past years. Invest in new programming.”
“What’s the game ITV? Wheel of Fortune on two consecutive evenings?” asked another disgruntled viewer.
Many viewers also noted that the the game show failed to entertain them the first time around and they were far from impressed when it was repeated on Sunday night.
“Just in case you didn’t waste an hour of your time yesterday, a repeat of #WheelOfFortune is on ITV now,” one viewer wrote.
“Watched Wheel of Fortune last night – it was poor. Now it’s on again. Shoot me!” another complained.
“The show isn’t great, and showing the same episode twice will not make it any better,” said a third.
Wheel of Fortune had already received a lot of criticism after it cut the role of the “glamorous assistant” — previously held by Carol Smillie and Jenny Powell — and the tiles have been replaced by a digital board.
Fuming about the change, one viewer said: “Where’s the assistant to turn the tiles?”
“Wheel of Fortune just isn’t the same without a glamorous assistant turning the letters round manually,” commented another.
“Why isn’t there someone turning the letters round? What is this insanity?” a third viewer criticised, while a fourth said: “Is this even the same with the board being computerised… I want someone turning the squares.”
“ITV missed a trick in not getting the lovely Jenny Powell back,” another viewer lamented.
New episodes of Wheel of Fortune air on Saturdays at 6pm on ITV1 and are available to stream on ITVX.
