Channel Ten's horror year continues.

In its third episode, aired Tuesday, Survivor Australia suffered lower ratings in some cities than Channel Nine's 15-year-old re-run of Kath and Kim.

Although Australian Survivor had a metro audience of 600,000 and Kath and Kim had 572,000 it appears the network have cut the show back to just two episodes a week.

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Cast away !In its third episode, aired Tuesday, Survivor Australia suffered lower ratings in some cities than Channel Nine's 15-year-old re-run of Kath and Kim

Dropped? It appears the network have cut the reality show back to just two episodes a week

In reports announcing the reality show's fourth season, it was stated that the show would air on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights.

But in the TV schedule for Tuesday August 8, Australian Survivor is nowhere to be seen, with Shark Tank filling its usual time slot instead.

However, speaking to Daily Mail Australia, a representative for Channel Ten insisted the show was not dropped for performance reasons.

They stated: 'The plan was always to drop back to Sunday and Monday.'

In interviews ahead of the show's premiere, host Jonathan LaPaglia promised a more action-packed, surprising season than ever.

Survivor looked like a promising contender for ratings against The Block.

But Channel Nine's renovation show recorded 1,044,000 viewers, almost double Survivor's 600,000.

Sharked: On the TV schedule for Tuesday August 8, Australian Survivor is nowhere to be seen, despite earlier reports that the show would air on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights

Then, in the traditionally lower-rated 9pm slot, Nine aired the pilot episode of Kath & Kim from 2002, which gained more viewers than Survivor did in both Brisbane and Melbourne.

The five-city metro average saw it registering 572,000 viewers, easily beating Ten's 9pm offering, a brand new episode of Shark Tank, which recorded 440,000.

At 7.30pm more viewers in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth tuned into Channel Seven's Mighty Cruise Ships than they did Survivor.

Blocked: Channel Nine's renovation show recorded 1,044,000 viewers, almost double Survivor's 600,000, while Kath and Kim earned more viewers in Brisbane and Melbourne

It earned 20,000 less viewers overall, but the Canadian-made documentary, purchased and re-aired by Seven, would have cost the network far less.

In more bad news for the network, Wednesday's ratings revealed that The Bachelor was beaten by Seven's Border Security and Nine's The Block.

Earlier this year, Ten's reboot of The Biggest Loser faltered in ratings and was eventually relegated to a lunchtime slot.

Two months later Channel Ten announced that they had gone into voluntary administration after its shareholders, including Lachlan Murdoch, refused to guarantee bank loans.