I remember some people poking fun at the idea and expressing doubts, but I doubt anyone genuinely wanted it to fail, genuinely. Pretty much everyone was on board with it in theory at least, just to have some loffs. Hell, I volunteered for his planned dirty foreigner episode which, probably thankfully, never materialized because we were justifiably right down at the bottom of the list of booking priorities.
I've seen some Kiwifags attribute the Somervillain's fall of grace to the rabid dog-eat-dog mechanics of the Deep Space Nine of the Internet, but that just isn't the case. The podcast lasted for what, over a year? Opposition seemed to grow gradually and erupted over the last week or so. Let's not forget that Die Allianz was still sending conciliatory PMs to Dan like a month ago, or that the guy who pulled the trigger on him was a guest in the very first fucking episode. These guys did not go deep wit da hate from the get go.