After only 5 months ITV have pulled the plug on their Bingo Night Live show. The last programme went out on 15th November leaving presenters Michael Underwood, Melinda Messenger and Jenny Poweell looking for alternative employment. It also brought an end to a free bingo extravaganza! But is it really a surprise?ITV Bingo Live was heralded by many as the new concept for TV Bingo, except no one bothered to produce a show that was interesting or entertaining. The late night slot didn't help, but the fact you could play for free without watching (and if you won get sent an email telling you of your success) also meant know one actually had to endure what in fact was incredibly poor television.
The show did generate winners! ITV Bingo Live has paid out prizes totalling £500,000 to around 15,000 winners. However, our sister site Bingo Blog questioned whether ITV would continue the show when only 59,392 signed up for the free to play a £60,000 jackpot game in October.
This may have been a record for the largest ever live bingo game, but ITV must have been disappointed by the lack of interest (and viewing figures). No reason has been given by the channel for the show's demise, although ITV do still have their online bingo room in association with Party Bingo.
For now though the only bingo featuring on TV will the Sky Channel/Online crossovers from the likes of Bingos and Gala Bingo and programme sponsorship deals featuring William Hill (Spin Star) and Wink Bingo (Family Fortunes).
