Riding on the ''exciting thrill ride'' provided by the adventure reality show 'Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi' and ''the rugged charm'' exuded by Bollywood Khiladi Akshay Kumar as its host, the new general entertainment 'Colors' has debuted as the number three General entertainment channel in the opening week of its launch, channel sources said.

According to the TAM ratings for the week starting July 21, 'Colors', the GEC from the Viacom 18 stable, notched up viewership ratings of 81 GRPs in the very first week of its launch, making it a clear number three among the general entertainment channels behind only Star Plus and Zee TV with viewership ratings of 258 GRPs and 180 GRPs respectively and ahead of Sony Entertainment network and NDTV Imagine which notched viewership ratings of 72 GRPs and 71 GRPs respectively.

Channel sources said 'Colors' achieved a viewership level of 36.4 million viewers with just five-and-a-half days of programming.

''The numbers for 'Colors' are an all time high for any new GEC channel as these numbers are almost four times that of 9X's and nearly 50 per cent more than NDTV Imagine's opening numbers, ''the sources said.

When compared to viewership ratings of 81 GRPs notched by 'Colors' in its opening week, 9X and NDTV Imagine had garnered ratings of 21 GRPs and 56 GRPs in the opening week of their launch.

Comparing the numbers on a like-to-like basis(July 21 1900 hrs to July 26), places 'Colors' as the clear number three above Sony, NDTV Imagine and the rest, the sources added.

The sources attribute the huge viewership levels for the channel in large part to the adventure reality show 'Fear factor Khatron Ke Khiladi' hosted by Bollywood 'Khiladi' Akshay Kumar.

The show, which marks the debut of Akshay on the small screen, close on the heels of his contemporaries like Shahrukh Khan in 'Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain' and Salman Khan on 'Dus Ka Dum', notched up average viewership ratings of 2 TVRs with the peak ratings being 2.3 TVRs during its opening week.

Being aired on the new GRC Mondays to Thursdays at 2200 hrs, 'Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi' has Akshay Kumar, among the most dependable stars of the film industry today, display his daredevilry and penchant for adventure and thrill as the host of the new show, guiding 13 Bollywood beauties in performing some of the most breathtaking stunts ever performed.

Shot in the exotic locales of South Africa, ‘Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi' shows beauties like Yaana Gupta, Aditi Govtrikar, Pooja Bedi, Sonali Kulkarni, Anita Hasnandani, Meghna Naidu, Tapur Chatterjee, Tupur Cahtterjee, Nethra Raghuraman, Anjana Sukhani, Dipannita Sharma, Vidya Malvade and Urvashi Sharma performing some death-defying stunts in the exotic locales of South Africa in pursuit of the battle of physical and mental strength to determine as to who among them will be the last one standing.

Witnessing beautiful women perform stunts that would seem near impossible for ordinary mortals takes the game to the highest level of physical and mental challenge, making the show more gritty and edgy than ever before.

Among the other shows on the channel, 'Balika Vadhu' averaged 0.9 TVR for the week with a peak rating of 1.2 TVR, 'Jai Shri Krishna' averaged 0.8 TVR with a Peak rating of 0.9 TVR.

Noting that the ratings and reach of the programmes has been increasing steadily ever since its launch on July 21 at 1900 hrs, channel sources said, ''this indicates that viewers are continuously sampling the channel.''