Stark difference between Channel 7’s latest reality show offerings

Channel 7 debuted two of its biggest reality show offerings in the past week, with Dancing With The Stars proving a hit while another series plummeted.

Channel 7 went from topping the prime time ratings on Sunday night, to plummeting out of the top 20 shows on Monday.

It seems the network’s two big winter reality TV offerings are on opposite ends of the popularity spectrum, with Dancing With The Stars premiering its latest season on Sunday, where it dominated the 7pm timeslot with 647,000 viewers across the five-city metro rankings.

But Monday’s ratings told a vastly different story, with Million Dollar Island – hosted by SAS instructor Ant Middleton – airing to just 263,000 viewers.

The Survivor-style show, which premiered last Monday, sees 100 contestants put on a desert island, competing for a chance to win a share of $1 million – to be split among the final three.

Ant Middleton is hosting Million Dollar Island.

The format is a brand new TV concept, with an adaptation airing in the Netherlands earlier this year to promising numbers. It was produced for the Australian market by Eureka Productions, which also makes Seven’s Farmer Wants A Wife.

The show, which debuted last week to 273,000 viewers, airs Mondays and Tuesdays, with five people eliminated per episode. That number is expected to escalate for the show to wrap in a timely fashion.

TV Tonight editor David Knox believed the high number of competitors on the show was ultimately making it hard for viewers to connect.

“The show doesn’t have enough point of difference from others in the genre other than supersizing the cast, which makes it hard to connect with its characters,” Knox said.

“But Seven is up against Ashes and State of Origin on Nine, in particular, so I expect they will let it play out its duration regardless.”

Meanwhile, Dancing With The Stars, co-hosted by Sonia Kruger and Darryl Somers, airs on the network on Sunday nights.

Dancing With The Stars' debut episode won the ratings on Sunday.

And in its twentieth season DWTS has maintained its long-running popularity, drawing in 59,000 more viewers on Sunday compared to its 2022 premiere.

It also managed to beat Ten’s MasterChef – which has been dominating its 7.30pm timeslot since its debut last month, and came in behind DWTS with 431,000 viewers.

Falling further behind was Nine’s Parental Guidance, which drew 375,000 viewers on the same evening.

In a rare outcome, Nine’s multichannel, 9Gem, has seen a major boost in viewership thanks to its coverage of the Mid Year Ashes, where it beat all the channels on Monday with 618,000 metro viewers.