Channel 7’s answer to The Block may have finally found it’s audience after an embarrassing start to the home renovation reality show.

After debuting last Tuesday with a meager 806,000 viewers (It was easily beat by Channel 9’s The Block Sky High and The Voice) and dropping to an all time low of 687,000 viewers on Thursday night, House Rules Monday night episode finally cracked the 1 million viewers mark with the show’s First House Reveal episode.

So why are now viewers tuning in?  The Voice and The Block Sky High are still holding top spot but are not reaching the same highs as earlier seasons and both renovation shows are only partly overlapping in schedule timing.

One could argue that Seven’s decision to schedule recaps of the series across its weekend programming may have helped but my guess is the change in programming of 9’s The Voice, now only being aired on Monday nights (clearly to stretch out the series as possible) has actually helped House Rules boost it’s ratings numbers.

House Rules is a fun watch and is a new twist on the the home renovation show competitions, but after a weeks worth of viewings, i’m hardly rooting for ANY couple to win the coveted prize of having their entire mortgage paid off.

The casting department have single-handedly managed to wrangle a bunch of highly unlikable couples to take part in the competition.  Between overbearing wives, know-it-all husbands and two bully brothers, most of the couples on House Rules seem extremely undeserving of such a reward.

My advice, watch the show for resident build supervisor Chester Drife.  He’s the good-looking and nice guy version of The Block’s foreman Keith!

Check your local listings for when House Rules is airing next on Channel 7.

Related articles

• House Rules bounces back in ratings (bigpondnews.com)
• The Block Fires First Shot In Renovator Show War (anthobuzz.com)