Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had their Netflix show Polo ‘taken out of their control’, an insider claims.
With two stars or less out of five across the board, reports claimed Netflix is ”exhausted” with Harry and Meghan, according to the Mail’s Alison Boshoff. Read the full mail+ report here.
The Prince, 40, only appears a handful of times in the five episodes, while his wife Meghan, 43, appears even less – despite both being executive producers of the series.
But the couple reportedly had little control over the program, a source said Closer magazine.
“The truth is, it was pretty much beyond their control. The bosses wanted the series to appeal to the masses and pushed this reality TV slant, so it’s not entirely their fault,” the source reportedly said.
They added: ‘It’s quite ironic because they’ve always been so above this kind of thing and now here they are producing exactly the kind of content they’ve always looked down on.’
It comes as Meghan’s favorite magazine The Cut appears to have turned against her, with a new article saying her projects ‘continue to flop’.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive at the Grand Champions Polo in Wellington in April this year
The couple received scathing reviews for their latest TV project Polo, the latest part of their £80 million deal with the streaming service
Meghan’s 2022 cover interview with the magazine sparked backlash with her claims against the royal family
The site – part of New York Magazine – published a famous cover interview with the Duchess in August 2022, in which she made controversial comments about the royal family.
The left-wing publication now appears to have followed suit in the wake of other US media outlets turning against the couple following their smash Netflix series and the prince’s biography, Spare.
This week, The Cut published a piece titled “Harry and Meghan’s Projects Can’t Stop Flopping” by pop culture and entertainment writer Danielle Cohen — marking a very different stance than the one from two years ago.
Harry, who served as executive producer on the Polo series alongside Meghan, promised the program – released worldwide this week – would showcase the “true depth and spirit of the sport” as well as the “intensity of the moments where there is a lot is at stake’.
However, the five-part docuseries, which revolves around the run-up to the World Polo Championship in Florida and focuses mainly on players such as Adolfo and Poroto Cambiaso, Timmy Dutta and Nacho Figueras, struggled to impress critics.
The reviews are in for Harry and Meghan’s latest Netflix project Polo (pictured), the latest part of their £80million deal with the streaming service
It’s a reality that Ede saw as threatening to Sussex’s Netflix deal, telling MailOnline: ‘The new polo documentary hasn’t gotten good reviews, and this is another attempt at production by Meghan and Harry.
‘All eyes will be on whether the show scores and makes the all-important top ten. It could, like the Invictus documentary, get off to a good start because of the public’s fascination with the pair and possibly with polo.
‘But chances are it’s going to end badly when you’re up against blockbusters like Black Dove and safe Lindsay Lohan Christmas movies.
“This could potentially be the nail in the coffin for their deal with the streaming giant who are now using algorithms to ensure their programming is perfect for their subscribers.”