‘Duck Dynasty’ Season 9 to Air Next Month Despite low Ratings After 2014 Suspension Over Phil Robertson’s Anti-Gay Remarks
After almost a year of absence, controversial reality show "Duck Dynasty" will make its return this coming January on the A&E network.
As reported by Deadline, the Robertson clan returns after its lengthy suspension, due to the homophobic remarks of clan head Phil Robertson.
Unfortunately, the ninth season of the formerly popular reality show will be its farewell tour, as it will end on Feb 17 with a one-hour 100th episode, which will feature a family road trip to move John Luke and Mary Kate into Liberty University.
In addition, TV Guide also reported that this season will witness new challenges including Miss Kay opening her own bakery, Willie goading family members into settling an old dodgeball rivalry and pro-wrestler Kurt Angle helping Jep with his wrestling, in addition to the ladies challenging the men to a high-stakes frogging competition.
The reality show from Gurney Productions was a certified hit way back in 2013 after it broke records with its Season 4 premiere by drawing 11.8 million viewers, becoming the biggest non-fiction series telecast in cable history.
However, it all went downhill from there after the scandal generated by family patriarch Phil in a GQ magazine article. It's home network, A&E, swiftly suspended him, but still faced immediate backlash from its irate viewers and other members of the clan, who said that they cannot imagine the show going forward without him.
Although the cable network lifted the suspension two weeks later, the Season 5 premiere in January 2014 only managed to garner 8.5 million viewers, and the following season, it went further down with 4.59 million.
Its lowest point came from last season where it garnered only 2.51 million viewers in its premiere.
However, it's not all bad for the members of the Robertson clan. According to The Advocate, Phil's 18-year-old daughter Sadie Robertson is using fashion as the means to promote teen confidence.
Sadie currently serves as the national spokesmodel for Louisiana's rue21 junior lifestyle clothing line.
When asked why she was chosen as the representative of the brand, she said, "They loved my message that girls can be confident."
In fact, that message is broadcasted daily to her 2.4 million Instagram followers and 1.64 million Twitter followers, as well as through her New York Times best-seller book, "Live Original: How The Duck Commander Teen Keeps It Real and Stays True to Her Values."
It seems that despite the controversy, the Robertson clan will get by.
Catch the last season of "Duck Dynasty" this Jan. 9, 2016 at A&E.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of latinpost.com