The series was originally tipped to be ‘bigger than MAFS’.

Stranded On Honeymoon Island's Emily crying / Brie and Byron.

Channel 7’s new reality show Stranded On Honeymoon Island has been dropped to a later time slot. Photos: Channel 7

Channel 7 appears to be giving up hope on its brand new reality show, Stranded On Honeymoon Island, following a disappointing debut week. The series, which has been described as “the most radical and extreme dating experiment ever seen on television”, has been moved out of primetime to a later time slot after the first two episodes delivered disappointing ratings.

Monday night’s premiere drew 539,000 overnight viewers across metro, regional and BVOD platforms, well below Lego Masters (850,000), MasterChef (683,000), and Farmer Wants A Wife (694,000), which aired at a later time. Tuesday night’s episode then dropped to 376,000 viewers, although it had a reach of 1.12 million, suggesting people tried to watch but didn’t stick around.

The series will now air at 8:30pm on Monday, with The 1% Club UK taking its primetime slot. According to TV Blackbox, the show will then be removed from its Monday night slot the following week and instead air back-to-back episodes on Tuesday night.

Stranded On Honeymoon Island logo.

The series has been in the works for almost two years. Photo: Channel 7

The ratings slump is undoubtedly a disappointment for the network, which has been working on the series for almost two years.

An insider tells Yahoo Lifestyle that Stranded On Honeymoon Island was filmed in October 2023, but Channel 7 delayed the premiere “due to more money being thrown at it”.

During this time, they hired radio host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson to narrate the series, and completely re-edited the footage to make it “bigger than MAFS”.

This marks the third consecutive year that Channel 7 has failed to introduce a new reality TV format following Farmer Wants A Wife, after 2023’s Million Dollar Island and 2024’s Dream Home also delivered disappointing ratings.

Dire ratings aren’t the only problem facing Stranded On Honeymoon Island, as one of its contestants has gone rogue and completely spoiled the show.

While viewers have tuned in to the new series this week to see Tom Brown getting matched with his ‘wife’ Emily, his social media followers can see that he is currently in a relationship with someone else.

In fact, the 30-year-old business analyst and entrepreneur has gotten married and become a father of two in the time between when the reality show was filmed and began airing on TV.

Tom got engaged to Australian Survivor star Morgan Mitchell in July 2024, just before she flew to Fiji to film this year’s season of the Channel 10 series, and got married at the Victorian Marriage Registry in February. They welcomed their twin daughters, Honey and Maya, in May and brought them home from the NICU earlier this month.

Stranded On Honeymoon Island's Tom Brown / Tom and Australian Survivor's Morgan Mitchell with their twins.

One of the show’s contestants has gotten married and become a father of two since filming the show. Photos: Channel 7 / Instagram/tommybr.own

When asked by Yahoo Lifestyle how she feels about Tom revealing that they’re no longer together, his on-screen partner Emily says she’s ultimately happy that he found love.

“In regards to Tom getting married and having twins between the end of filming and airing on TV, there’s so much that unfolds on the island with unexpected twists and turns,” she teases.

“Our storyline is very relatable in today’s modern dating world, so it’s something that the viewers need to watch and come on the journey with us. Everyone went on the show to find love, and now that he’s married with twins, I’m happy for him!”