"The 7PM Project" returned on 3 January 2011, achieving 680,000 viewers after a generally low rating summer series. A week later, due to the 2010–2011 Queensland floods, rival networks extended their news coverage which pushed current affair shows "Today Tonight," which airs on the Seven Network, and "A Current Affair," which airs on the Nine Network, from their usual timeslot of 6.30 pm. This meant that the aforementioned shows directly competed with "The 7PM Project". The added competition from the higher rating current affairs programs pushed viewership of The Project down to a low of 496,000 on Friday with episodes across the week also down. "The 7PM Project" came in 36th for the week, averaging out 657,000.