Discovery’s TLC channel chooses not to commission second series as just 69,000 viewers tune in to first episode of If Katie Hopkins Ruled the World

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Donald Trump may have said that politicians should watch her, but Katie Hopkins’ chatshow hasn’t proved a hit with viewers and has been axed.



If Katie Hopkins Ruled the World has not been commissioned for a second series on Discovery’s female-focused TLC channel.



Just 69,000 viewers tuned into the first episode, despite Hopkins’ large social media following, which includes more than 600,000 Twitter followers.



The programme featured the former The Apprentice candidate calling an audience member a “raging angry fat person in a pink dress” and telling columnist Liz Jones she looked a “bit weird”. It billed Hopkins as “Britain’s most hated woman” and a “professional provocateur”.

Hopkins defended the show when it aired in August, saying she saw it as an antidote to “massively aggressive” comedy panel shows mostly populated by men. But sources claim Hopkins and staff have been told that there are no plans for it to return.

TLC took the decision to give Hopkins her own show after her documentary My Fat Story rated well, with TLC claiming it was watched by about 10 million people in the UK and the US.



The show, the highest-rating on TLC, featured Hopkins putting on weight in a bid to show how people can then lose it easily.



She is to appear in a one-off follow-up documentary – Katie Hopkins: Fat Story One Year On – which will air on TLC on 2 January.



Hopkins hit the headlines last week after former The Apprentice US frontman Donald Trump said of her: “The politicians of the UK should watch Katie Hopkins … many people in the UK agree with me.”

A spokesman for Discovery said there was no comment to make about If Katie Hopkins Ruled the World.

In September, Hopkins signed a deal to be a columnist for Mail Online. She had previously written for the Sun.

