Netflix Reboots Steamy Dating Reality Show, and the New Season Just Dropped

One of the early 2000s hottest dating shows is back on screens, all thanks to Netflix.

After most recently being at USA Network, Temptation Island returned with a new season on Netflix this month. The new batch of episodes of the steamy dating show, hosted by Mark L. Walberg, marks Temptation Island’s ninth season overall and first at the streamer.

The Netflix series premiered on March 12, marking the third iteration of the show, which initially premiered on Fox in 2001 and ran for three seasons through 2003. More than a decade later, in 2019, USA Network revived the series with Walberg attached as host. After the show’s five-season order ended with the Season 8 finale in August 2023, it was announced in January 2024 that Netflix was reviving the show on its platform.

Per Netflix’s official synopsis, “in this Netflix reality series, emotions run high when four couples, each at a crossroads in their relationship, head to Temptation Island to put their love to the ultimate test as they agree to live separately with a group of singles of the opposite sex. Will the choices they make push the couples closer together or farther apart into the arms of a new lover?”

Bringing the show from cable TV to streaming offered it “more leniency,” executive producers David Goldberg and David Friedman told Variety. According to Friedman, Netflix doesn’t “censor the show,” meaning that “there is stuff that you can show on Netflix that you can’t show on TV. We weren’t asked to blur certain things in G-strings and things like that.” However, there is a line, Goldberg clarifying that they “didn’t want to make it a porn show. I don’t think that makes the show better.”

“We’re also trying to be respectful,” Friedman added. “We don’t want people to feel our goal is to exploit physical connections that happen on the show.”

All 10 episodes of the revamped Netflix show dropped at once, packing plenty of drama and leaving fans clamoring for more. While previous seasons of the show on Fox and USA Network featured reunion episodes, Netflix hasn’t yet announced a reunion special, though the streamer has hosted reunions for its other hit reality series, such as Love Is Blind. Netflix also hasn’t announced a Season 2 renewal for Temptation Island just yet.

Temptation Island Season 9, its first as a Netflix series, is now streaming. All five seasons of the USA Network iteration are available to stream on Peacock.