Gladiators charging audience for tickets
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
Seven’s new version of Gladiators is not off to a good start with news it is charging audience members for the privilege of attending.
“At just $5 a ticket, it’s a great family outing for the school holidays and a perfect Christmas gift that everyone will enjoy,” says the Gladiators website. Talk about a king hit.
The show kicks off at at the Sydney Showgrounds from January 6. It promises to be “a spectacular 21st century arena setting – it’s the ultimate sports entertainment and not for the faint-hearted.”
Traditionally television programmes have been free for Aussie audiences to attend. It is seen as a “win / win” arrangement, with producers getting enthusiastic crowds adding to the spirit of a live show, with audiences enjoying free entertainment.
Big Brother has traditionally charged entry for its shows, as part of a ticket to Dreamworld. But the idea that a stand-alone game show should now be charging audiences to attend is hardly one that should be encouraged, especially from a network so flush with cash. Nine didn’t charge for Dancing on Ice and that cost a fortune.
If rental and production costs are so high on using The Dome as a venue, why are audiences being lumbered with the problem? Seven should be happy to have them for free. And how much do Ticketmaster make from bookings? The company was previously owned by Seven.
If this is a sign of the renewed Gladiators take me back to the original version when the entertainment was free.
11 Responses
Hey we went and saw the Gladiators at $5 a ticket (I took 5 kids). Never again. I won’t even watch it on TV now! We were a captive audience for over 5 hours (9:30-3:00) without breaks. We were told to move seats 3 times (to make the crowds look better for TV I guess). We were not given any toilet breaks, food or drinks (a very big deal when you have kids with you). If you snuck off to the foyer anyway with the MC booming “stay in your seats please”, the catering company got over $50 from me to purchase a pie and drink each for each of us. Oh and you also pay for parking at Olympic Park (I budgeted for 2 hours, ha!)
It is really boring attending a filming of a show as the actors keep on fluffing their lines so they are repeated over and over and over and over while the audience is told to cheer/scream etc until we were hoarse.
Channel 7 – shame on you for ripping off the public like that!
heh….its just $5, I would pay to go see Gladiators, its cheaper than a movie and it would be a good and different night out! Get over it! 😀
Gladiators ready
Me not sure if I would watch this tv show, it looks and sound boring and bland.
Big Brother tickets are also available as stand-alone tickets (without the Dreamworld entry component).
I believe this shows us they don’t believe in the product, and they want to cover some losses when it inevitably fails.
Oops. Of course it’s Dreamworld.
Thats dumb…
But it’ll still be a good show though.
Dave, dont mean to correct you but i think you meant Dreamworld for BB.
You’ve raised some valid points, and even though $5 isn’t much, it should still be free as Seven would surely make more than enough money from advertising.
And isn’t Big Brother located in Dreamworld? 😛
You may find that Big Brother is actually held at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast. Australia’s Wonderland was in Sydney and closed a few years ago.
As for the new Gladiators charging entry fees, I wonder where the money will go to? Rent? Production cost? Or the prizemoney? I agree with you that it could keep people away.
‘great Christmas gift’???
If someone gave that to me for Christmas, I’d kick them out of the house!
I suppose after Australia’s Got Talent when 7 were paying people to be in the audience and going off, they are trying a different route this time. And at $5 what’s the point. You get a 100 people you make $500 which will pay for the booze in Tom Williams mini bar in the green room !!!.
For it to really work, it would need a 1000 people. It is just going to keep people away – its not as if there are going to be any celebs or major sporting stars involved !!!!