The other two episodes made are said to be so bad that they cannot be shown.
The reincarnation of the game show, which features family teams made up of different generations, is hosted by former Great British Bake Off presenters Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins.
The BBC has shrugged off the cost of canning the episodes and refused to comment on how much they paid Mel and Sue.
But a source close to the production said: “Each episode of the show would have cost between £500,000 to £750,000. One of the problems was renting a studio which was just too large. They then found that two of the episodes were unbroadcastable. They were canned.”
The final cost of the two binned episodes could reach £1.5million, with the total budget for all four episodes as high as £3million.
Asked if the show would be recommissioned, the source said: “It’s highly unlikely, even though it got an audience of 5.8 million last week.”
The Generation Game went through the “triple lock” commissioning process at the BBC, in which a new show is signed off by three senior executives.
“This means that if something goes wrong no single person needs to take full responsibility for a failure,” said the source.
Tonight’s final episode will see four family pairs compete at cake decorating, balloon modelling, performing a magic trick, and dancing the tango with former Strictly stars.
After last week’s show viewers took to Twitter in force to complain. One wrote: “This is exactly why you don’t revive old game shows. It’s not great, is it?” Another commented: “Bruce and Larry must be turning in their graves at this…this is so painful.”
Karl Downey tweeted: “Eight minutes in. Mel and Sue have killed the greatest game show ever.”
In a statement the BBC said that the show format was evolving and promised “a brilliant show on BBC One this spring”.
