‘I knew it was coming’: Osher Günsberg opens up on axing of The Masked Singer and The Bachelor

November 22, 2024 9:57

Earlier this year, fans of The Masked Singer and The Bachelor were left devastated when Network 10 confirmed neither show would be returning in 2025. For the host of both programmes, Osher Günsberg, it wasn’t a surprise at all.

Appearing on the latest episode of Mumbrella’s one-on-one podcast series to promote his new SBS documentary – Osher Günsberg: A World of Pain – the renowned media personality, who rose to fame as Andrew G on Foxtel’s now-defunct Channel V music channel, discussed the turbulent TV landscape in 2024.

And as Günsberg notes, for any show, including The Masked Singer and The Bachelor, it’s all about the dollar.

Image by Nigel Wright

“At the end of the day, whoever’s commissioning you needs to be able to cover the cost of production with the ad revenue that they’re writing. And if the ad revenue dips below a certain point, it doesn’t make business sense to pay for that show you get made,” he told host Neil Griffiths.

“It’s not because I’m bad at my job. It’s not because the camera guy or the audio op or anybody… it’s just, this is where the ad revenue is going. And I can’t be upset about that.

“I knew it was coming; we all knew it was coming.”

Günsberg said he saw the writing on the wall “about two years ago” and he began putting plans in place for life after the shows.

The Masked Singer’s fifth season was by no means a ratings failure, with the finale reveal episode drawing a healthy 594,000 overnight viewers last November, with those numbers expanding to 965,000 once BVOD catch-up viewers were added.

“Sure enough, when we knew this, there’s no more of this, we had a couple of things we could hit go on, had a bit of continuity for us,” he said.

“Now it’s about how can I build the best value for people along the way. I think it’s a very interesting time.”

While The Bachelor has been picked up by Nine – in the reimagined format of The Golden Bachelor – Daniel Monaghan, Paramount ANZ’s senior vice president of content and programming, told Mumbrella earlier this year that all hope is not yet lost for the future of The Masked Singer.

“The Masked Singer, we love that show,” Monaghan said.

“We weren’t able to get it into the schedule this year or next, but I would not say never for Masked Singer. It really fits the bill of that broad family entertainment.”

Günsberg has managed to stay very active in the media world since moving on from Network 10. As well as the SBS project, his podcast, Better Than Yesterday, joined Nine’s stable of podcast properties last month.

Listen to the full podcast with Günsberg here and watch his documentary here.