They left Alaska — and now the Alaskan Bush People seem to be worried that they might be leaving Discovery Channel, too. Compared to last season’s ratings, season 9 has taken a major plunge in viewership, and apparently patriarch Billy Brown has taken notice. According to a new Radar Online report, he’s “desperately” trying to save his family’s show and, more importantly, their paychecks. Back in August 2018, the show was even more popular than Keeping Up with the Kardashians with 3.4 million viewers tuning in. But, according to TV by the Numbers, during the March 3, 2019, season premiere, there were only 2.2 million viewers — and by the next week, that number fell to 1.7 million.

There might be a reason for that. One source speculated to Radar that “it could be due in part to Ami’s cancer battle being over, but it is also due to the fact that the Alaskan Bush People no longer live in the Alaskan bush.” In August 2018, the family revealed that they can “never move back” to their old home because of Ami Brown‘s illnesses. Though she may be in remission now, she still has regular check ups. “She is doing good, but the docs made it clear that we have to live in a place where she can go to the hospital at any time,” Billy said at the time.

Alaskan Bush People Ratings
Discovery Channel

Of course, the family hasn’t actually lived in Alaska for a while now. After their mom’s diagnosis, they moved down to Los Angeles, California so that Ami could get treatment at UCLA. On the show, we also saw the Brown family flirt with a potential move to Colorado, even road tripping out to the area so they could check out the land as a family. Eventually, they settled on setting up shop in Washington, and we’ve seen them on the show as they pick out spots and start to build each of their individual homes. Unfortunately, this just doesn’t seem be enough to hold fans’ attention. But Billy’s not out of ideas yet.

“They are going to pull out all the stops to save the show,” the insider told Radar. “Gabe‘s wedding to Raquell, Noah’s baby and family feuding will hopefully bring ratings.”

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