The ratings groundhog for 90 Day Fiance: The Last Resort has surfaced, and it definitely saw its shadow. As a result, 90 Day Fiance fans should prepare for six more years of Big Ed and Angela Deem.
The latest spin-off from TLC’s popular international relationship franchise raised a few eyebrows when it was initially revealed earlier this year. The cast includes several former cast members the internet has been very critical of, and the concept seemed like a bit of a gamble on TLC’s part.
The gamble has certainly paid off as 90 Day Fiance: The Last Resort garnered huge ratings for its first three episodes!
In what will likely be a big surprise to a lot of 90 Day fans, The Last Resort has brought in more viewers than its TLC lead-in, 90 Day Fiance The Other Way, each of the last three weeks. Quite a bit more!
90 Day Fiance: The Last Resort’s series premiere had 1.369 million viewers tuning in live plus same day. That night’s episode of 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way had 1.119 million live plus same day viewers.
That means The Last Resort had a quarter million more viewers! Or, to put it another way, The Last Resort had 22% more live plus same day viewers than The Other Way!
The trend continued over the next couple episodes. Here is a break down of the live plus same day viewers for those episodes:
The Last Resort Episode 2 – 1.325 million
The Other Way – 1.106 million
The Last Resort Episode 3 – 1.287 million
The Other Way – 1.057 million
For comparison, 90 Day Fiance: Before The 90 Days has averaged just over 1.4 million viewers over the past three episodes. That is on the show’s traditional Sunday night, which has more people tuning in to television overall.
The Last Resort Season 2
The Last Resort has averaged 1.327 million live plus same day viewers over its first three weeks. And remember, those numbers don’t include streaming viewership, which is likely quite high after Discovery+ merged with Max.
It is all but guaranteed TLC will be renewing the series for a second season — it’s just a matter of when they will officially make the announcement. Not only are the ratings fantastic for the concept, but the franchise has a seemingly limitless supply of couples who would be willing to participate.
I should also note that centralized “get together” type reality shows can help cut down on production costs as well. Instead of multiple international filming locations and crews, it is one location with one crew — albeit a much larger crew I’m sure.
It will be interesting to see if TLC continues to push the envelope on continually bringing back the same cast members. Could we actually see Angela Deem and Michael on the show AGAIN? Given the ratings, I assume the boardroom debate would have to conclude with a big “Why not?”
Potential new 90 Day Fiance spin-off
The Last Resort was based on a proven reality show concept pioneered by shows like Couples Therapy and Marriage Boot Camp. If 90 Day Fiance fans really don’t get tired of cast members, then I assume we can expect producers to explore other proven concepts as well.
The most obvious concept to me would be a 90 Day Fiance version of Bachelor In Paradise and other similar shows. Single 90 Day Fiance cast members would all get together at an isolated resort somewhere and drink and date.
I assume there would be some sort of competition element, but I don’t know what that would be. The title would be something like 90 Day Fiance: Singles Retreat.
The biggest stumbling block I see is that the 90 Day Fiance franchise covers a very wide range of ages, unlike other franchises like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.
Perhaps there could be three different versions of 90 Day Fiance: Singles Retreat with different age groups? Something like 18-30, 30-45, and 45+? I’m rambling now. 😂
Just remember, when TLC announces The Last Resort Season 2 and a new spin-off gathering 90 Day Fiance singles together, you heard it here first!
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
