Reality bites E4 and ITV

Channel 4 digital youth channel E4 has come under fire for its much-vaunted Big Brother 2 live feed, which kicked off last weekend amid a series of technical difficulties. E4 was forced to make an on-screen apology in the early hours of Monday morning (28 May) after sound problems plagued the 18-hour-a-day feed, which launched on Sunday (27 May) at 00.40 and averaged 220,000 viewers (2.2 per cent of multichannel homes).

One observer said: 'The whole programme seemed a bit of a shambles, what with the sound cutting out and the dodgy camera angles. It was really poor quality.'

E4 director of programmes Andrew Newman explained the problems saying: 'There is a 10-minute delay on E4 coverage because we have to edit out swearing for daytime viewing.'

However, coverage on the main channel got off to a flying start, with the show averaging audiences 70 per cent higher than the channel's average broadcast share.

Overnight figures for the first episode on Saturday (26 May) at 21.00 showed an audience of 3.3 million (16.5 per cent) compared with a consolidated figure of 3.6 million for the first episode of the first series last year.

Sunday's edition (27 May) at 21.00 attracted 2.6 million (11.5 per cent share) while Monday's episode at 22.00 averaged 3.4 million (17.5 per cent).

ITV's equally hyped reality show Survivor continued to struggle. Executives were hoping for audiences of around 12 million, but unofficial overnight figures showed audiences were far from meeting expectations at about 5 million.

The preview Meet the Survivors at 19.00 on Monday 21 May attracted only 5.8 million (35.2 per cent share) and the first instalment at 21.00 gained 6.6 million (31.5 per cent), the programme's highest audience to date.

Thursday's (24 May) episode at 20.00 averaged 5.2 million (28.1 per cent), while Monday night's (28 May) instalment at 21.00 averaged 5.3 million (24.6 per cent).