Audition For The Voice Canned, Aus Ratings Slide

A planned try-out for the next series of The Voice in the UK was canned over the weekend after only five people showed up, an indication of the show's waning popularity according to The Sun.

Due to take place in Birmingham on Saturday, scouts from the reality TV singing contest opted to not bother showing up given the poor turn-out.

The BBC, the show's network, have now claimed that the show wasn't an official audition and said, "Our official auditions will run nationwide in August and September and we've had a huge, fantastic response. More than 25,000 people have already applied - a figure that is higher than last year.”

A global franchise, The Voice's most recent UK season had a strong start in the ratings but faded poorly, with 12 million viewers sliding to five million by the end of the series. Much of the UK press' criticism has been directed at the 'boring' judges - Jessie J, Sir Tom Jones, Will.I.Am and Danny O'Donoghue - while the same tabloids are regularly fighting for news about celebrity judges of other shows such as X-Factor and Britain's Got Talent.

In its first year in Australia the format of The Voice seemed to be a refreshing change for Australian audiences, who turned it into the biggest ratings juggernaut of the year so far - and a much needed success for Channel Nine. With a second series in the works, Nine's attempt to keep the momentum going by syndicating the show's recent American series is failing.

A long way from the heights of the local edition, last night's episode of The Voice continued to shed viewers with its two-hour prime-time timeslot from 7pm attracting only 484,000 viewers, well outside the top 15 for the night.

It is believed that Nine executives are committed to the American series as a lead-in to the Olympics.