"Long term Fans are abandoning the show"
Yes, because the manipulations by the producers, which started with the first series are now so calculated, exploitative, blatant and disrespectful to the voting public than ever before.
You are so right, Elliebrew, Rivals to the odds on favourites are being promoted and elevated so aggressively and immorally in order to increase the volume of votes.
Without the Bear Show (he was a gift to the producers, they had an angry aggressive sociopath to televise. TV Gold) Renee would have won and the voting revenue would have been poor or a lot poorer.
With the Bear Show, bottom feeders get a much needed outlet
and those outraged by his promotion that would never usually pick up their phones wake up and vote for Ricky, Bear's polar opposite.
The producers are the real winners and their partners -the bookies pay out very little to the handful that put money on Bear in the first hours of the show. When his odds were probably a zillion to one.