Home and Away shut down production last month due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And on Tuesday, Home and Away actress Sam Frost, 31, revealed that the future of the show looks uncertain as Channel seven slashes salaries and battles low ratings. During a phone interview on Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa, Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald asked her if seven would run out of episodes by the end of the year.
‘I don’t know, it just depends on when we can come back (to work). They obviously want us back as soon as possible, but how many completed episodes we have, I don’t know,’ she said.
‘We were pretty far behind with the bushfires and there were a couple of casts that were out with family issues. ‘We are pretty far behind, I wouldn’t be surprised (and I don’t know this) if we have to maybe do to a couple of eps a week pr or so. I don’t know what they’re going to do!’
Home and Away currently airs four episodes a week from Monday to Thursday. The long-running drama returned to the air at 7 pm on Monday and attracted 676,000 metro viewers. But 128,000 viewers tuned out for the following program House Rules: High Stakes, which aired in the primetime 7:30 pm slot.
House Rules-a renovation show in the mold of The Block-returned with a new format and higher profile hosts this year in an attempt to bolster ratings. But the latest season of House Rules has been battling lower ratings than previous seasons. Meanwhile, Channel Seven’s new dog grooming show pooch perfect has been bleeding viewers since its premiere in February.
Despite being hosted by Australian star Rebel Wilson, the latest episode of Pooch perfect brought in just 259,000 metro viewers – 58 percent less than its premiere. It is not known how much Channel Seven paid Rebel to appear on the show, but with a net worth of $16 million, she would not have come cheap.
Channel seven’s rating woes come as the network slashed the salaries of some of its biggest stars by a whopping 20 percent amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Seven News boss Craig McPherson told The Sydney Morning Herald’s Private Sydney on Saturday that the talent took the cuts with ‘great grace and class.’ The publication reports that Craig looks after Sunrise hosts Samantha Armytage, 43, and David ‘Kochi’ Koch, 64, who are two of the highest-paid stars at seven. They reportedly earned $500,000 and $1,000,000 respectively last night year.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to sweep through Australia.
