Alison Hammond reportedly suffered a ratings slide as she made her For The Love Of Dogs debut.
The much-loved ITV show returned for a brand-new series on Tuesday night (April 16). The late Paul O’Grady had hosted the series until his death last year.
Earlier this year, ITV announced that Alison would take over as host for the new series. But following the new episode, it’s been claimed not as many people tuned in as normal.
For The Love Of Dogs: Ratings dip for Alison Hammond
When Alison was announced as the new host of For The Love Of Dogs, it sparked a mixed reaction among fans. Some were thrilled for Alison while others believe she’s the wrong choice to host.
And after the show made its return to screens last night (April 16), viewers’ reactions came pouring in and it was mixed, to say the least.
What’s more, it’s now been claimed that the first episode failed to pull in the amount of viewers the show is used to having back when Paul fronted it.
For The Love Of Dogs ratings ‘revealed’
Over on X, formerly known as Twitter, one TV critic penned: “TV ratings. Alison Hammond pulled in 1.9m viewers for her For The Love Of Dogs debut last night. For comparison, the first episode of Paul O’Grady’s final series last year got 2.5m.”
Feel for Alison.
Other social media users soon shared their thoughts. One person said: “I enjoyed watching – the ultimate aim of the show is to promote homing rescue dogs. Feel for Alison.”
A second added: “Well, I shan’t be watching again, so I’m one less.” A third wrote: “Nothing against Alison but they should have scrapped the show or given it to Julian Clary who is clearly a dog lover and a friend of Paul’s.”
Alison Hammond on For the Love of Dogs backlash
It comes after Alison hit back at trolls slamming her for not owning a dog – despite hosting For The Love Of Dogs. The This Morning presenter told The Sun‘s TV mag: “I was actually surprised with how much I got for doing the show.
“I could understand in the sense that Paul was so loved and people were saying: ‘How can she do Love Of Dogs when she doesn’t have a dog? How does she love dogs when she doesn’t have a dog?’ It’s like saying: ‘How can you love children when you haven’t got kids?'”
She added: “It’s such a flawed argument for me. And all I would say is: ‘If you don’t want to watch it, don’t watch it.’ That’s what I would say to those trolls: ‘Don’t watch it then. If you don’t want to help Battersea, don’t watch it.'”
Entertainment Daily! UK has contacted ITV for comment.
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