Wednesday TV Ratings: Phil Keoghan’s ‘Tough As Nails’ Flexes Ratings Muscle
Look! It’s a new TV show! That’s what you may find yourself saying this summer as reruns have taken over. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our usual summer favorites — Big Brother and American Ninja Warrior, for example, both of which could still show up before the summer is over — weren’t able to shoot.
But, while we wait for the delayed Amazing Race season (pushed to later this year, though the latest installment is complete), we still have a welcome dose of Phil Keoghan, who serves as the co-creator, executive producer, and host of Tough As Nails. The series debuted on Wednesday, July 8, with two back-to-back episodes.
Both hours of the competition series, which features everyday trade workers in various challenges, took the top spots in both the key 18-49 demographic and total viewers. The first hour grabbed 4.2 million viewers, just a notch below the current time slot holder, Game On!, which brought in 4.4 million viewers in its premiere on May 27. The second hour dropped a tad to 3.9 million viewers.
The rest of the night was predictable with the One Chicago shows — Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. — all doing well. Med and Fire came in second in both the key demo and total viewers but P.D. led the 10 o’clock hour in total viewers and tied with CBS’s S.W.A.T. rerun in the 18-49 demo.
Here’s the breakdown for Wednesday, July 8, 2020 (numbers are fast-affiliate based):
| Time | Show | Adults 18-49 rating | Total Viewers (millions) |
| 8 p.m. | Tough As Nails – P (CBS) | 0.6 | 4.2 |
| The Goldbergs – R (ABC) | 0.5 | 2.7 | |
| Chicago Med – R (NBC) | 0.4 | 3.6 | |
| Master Chef – R (Fox) | 0.4 | 1.5 | |
| The 100 (CW) | 0.1 | 686,000 | |
| 8:30 p.m. | black-ish – R (ABC) | 0.4 | 1.8 |
| 9:00 p.m. | Tough As Nails (CBS) | 0.6 | 3.9 |
| Ultimate Tag (FOX) | 0.5 | 1.5 | |
| Chicago Fire – R (NBC | 0.3 | 3.6 | |
| The Conners – R (ABC) | 0.3 | 1.8 | |
| Bulletproof (CW) | 0.1 | 407,000 | |
| 9:30 p.m. | American Housewife – R (ABC) | 0.3 | 1.5 |
| 10 p.m. | Chicago P.D. – R (NBC) | 0.4 | 3.5 |
| SEAL Team – R (CBS) | 0.4 | 2.4 | |
| Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC) | 0.3 | 1.4 |
Chicago Fire where to stream
Chicago P.D. where to stream
