List of Island Life episodes (2023 - 2025)

For the episodes recorded before 2023, check out List of Island Life episodes (2020 - 2022).

Since July 2021, the series has been renewed 28 times, lasting to February 2024. After witnessing over 800 views in December 2022, 730 views in January 2023 and then a rise to 950 views (not far off from the 1,000 monthly views) with 2,000+ views in March 2023 despite having only uploaded February episodes during the month of March as the episode 1,000 compilation was still unfinished, the April & May episodes combined yielded only 1,000 views on average on AustinAspen Network and 1,500 total views with all YouTube episodes, an increase of 17.6% compared to April 2023. AustinAspen renewed for July 2023, the last time they renewed Island Life. Islanders Viewing Partners renewed Island Life for August 2023 and on August 31, renewed for September 2023 after reaching 150 subscribers/Islanders on YouTube. A rise in subscribers throughout September lined up a renewal for October 2023, under the updated name "Russell Island Adventures on Island Life". Views continued to fall until December 2023 when views slowly went back up, largely due to mass episode uploads. With an increase in views in December, Islanders Viewing Partners renewed Russell Island Adventures on Island Life for January and February 2024.

AustinAspen Network abruptly ceased airing new episodes after January 10, 2023 initially without any statement. There was a statement released on January 31, 2023 including an apology to the Island Life fans. They also aired the unseen new episodes on January 25, 2023. AustinAspen Network aired the last new episodes on July 15, 2023 before dropping Island Life from their channel. In mid-September 2023, Austin Network ultimately started broadcasting the episodes, starting from episode 1,114 starting September 16. The new episodes are aired in one-hour chunks every Saturday and Sunday except with 19 November airing a two hour chunk due to a 10-hour livestream on 18 November.

In October, the series was renamed "Russell Island Adventures on Island Life". Until the island name change is approved, this will remain the name of the program from October onwards.

### Future Doubts about Island Life (May 2023 - Present Day)

AustinAspen Network had announced in early May 2023 that it was discontinuing funding Island Life once the sponsor deal concludes in July 2023 to invest more in American programming. As a result of this, Blazier and Holahan intervened to prevent Island Life funding being cut. Holahan later fired AustinAspen Network's CFO over "negligence and incompetence" at one of the network employees. Later that month, on 23 May, despite support from Holahan and Blazier, AustinAspen Network had decided to discontinue funding for the program after the sponsorship concludes in July 2023. Wilkes Sr. has not provided details about the Island Life funding cuts as he stated "Island Life uploads could be a month or two behind and by the time the news is announced, Island Life would have a sponsor renewed or replaced and the islanders wouldn't want to be spooked out by Island Life coming to an end. He is planning to find another media network to sponsor the series because he says that Island Life deserves a better chance providing episodes to the Islanders that view the program. In mid-July, Wilkes Sr. was forced to relinquish his final say on all future Island Life episodes due to Islanders Viewing Partners strict regulations.

On July 25, Wilkes Sr. announces he is pulling out of Island Life and Russell Island within the next year due to disagreements with a specific sibling of his acquired extended family. This depute has since been negotiated.

In October 2023, it has been confirmed that Wilkes Sr. departing Russell Island deadline would be the deadline date to be sometime in 2025, with the last episode to be made on November 23, 2025 (Episode 1,999).

## Season 32 - Living in Poverty (January 2023)

Season 32 is a continuation of Season 31. Very few excursions take place here but this month is a very interesting one by far. In this season, Wilkes Sr. changed up the beginning of the episode. He would open the episode with a fact about a particular topic before introducing the episode normally around the late half of the month.

## Season 33 - The Road to 1K\*/Living in Poverty (February 2023)

The Road to 1K subtitle is exclusively for YouTube and future DVD releases. For AustinAspen Network TV broadcasting and documentation, Season 33 is still labeled as "Living in Poverty", due to inflated pricing.

Season 33 is a continuation of Season 32. More excursions take place here. Nothing in this season has changed. However, his karaoke and open mic sessions are reduced this month, as was the case a month prior. And this season celebrates the FINAL Island Life milestone, Episode 1000! In mid-February, it was announced that the YouTube releases will be subtitled "The Road to 1K" instead of "Living in Poverty" indicating the road to the 1,000th episode but if the series is renewed in March, the episodes in March will revert back to "Living in Poverty" reflecting the current financial stress, mainly owing to inflated pricing and the possibility of Australia entering in to a recession, worse than 2009 and as terrifying as "The Great Depression" in the 1930s.

Throughout March 2023, some of these episodes broke records of high views, view time length and subscriber gain with Episode 974 holding the record of the longest Island Life to be recorded, surpassing Episode 80 and Episode 982 becoming the most viewed episode, surpassing Episode 658.

AustinAspen Network is becoming suspicious of the crazy inflating views which would renew Island Life through to May 2023.

## Season 34 - Living in Poverty (March 2023)

Season 34 is a continuation of Season 33. After reaching 1,000 episodes, the series transitions back to the Living in Poverty format. The Karaoke and Open Mic sessions have been mentioned. The excursions do return but they are to be greatly reduced as the rising cost of living continues marching on, as does Russell Island's notorious crime rate. Uncle Thomas returns to Island Life after a long absence but on a guest contract. With crazy views during the February 2023 episodes, the network overlooked the Uncle Thomas requirement and removed the requirement. This is where the views would fall downhill and had remained to do so up to the end of the series.

## Season 35 - Living in Poverty (April 2023)

Season 35 is a continuation of Season 34. The Karaoke and Open Mic sessions are increased to take place every weekend with the exception of April 2, in the case of April 8, 2023, the cameraman has plans to get a photo with the Easter Bunny at Victoria Point but also has a karaoke event at the RSL but has no plans on April 2, 2023. The excursions return in this season but they are mixed together with doctor appointments and various other medical visits and examinations. AustinAspen Network has overlooked the return of Uncle Thomas requirement and instead renewed for April and May 2023 after witnessing an explosion of views with "The Road to 1K format". However, the views have to continue rolling in otherwise Island Life could come to an end. The April episodes broadcast on Austin Network but this will be for a short trial run and Austin Network will still be showing classic Island Life episodes as AustinAspen Network holds the rights to broadcast the modern episodes. However, on May 7, 2023, Austin Network had decided to silently discontinue broadcasting Island Life altogether, no statement was released.

## Season 36 - Living in Poverty (May 2023)

Season 36 is a continuation of Season 35. The cooler weather sees the cameraman sleeping in his office once again. There have not been any further development in regards to Season 36 just yet but in March, AustinAspen Network renewed Island Life for Seasons 35 and 36. The requirements for May 2023 are the same as April 2023, the views have to continue rolling in or else Island Life could rapidly end. On May 3, 2023, the lease is set for renewal which means Island Life will continue. The excursions start to cut down at this point due to limited interest for both the cameraman and Islanders. Also, Season 36 episodes start broadcasting on weekends in an effort to raise ratings. Also, the outro has been matched to the month-year format under the "Living in Poverty" umbrella.

## Season 37 - Living in Poverty (June 2023)

Season 37 is a continuation of Season 36. This month sees the new ferry terminal opening which is a turning point for Island Life. June 2023 (and half of July) are the final seasons with AustinAspen Network as the sponsor due to their sponsorship coming to an end after deciding not to renew their sponsorship through to July 14, 2024. Nonetheless, Island Life Day and the Cameraman's birthday specials are also key in Season 37. This would be the beginning of the end here.

## Season 38 - Living in Poverty (July 2023)

Season 38 is a continuation of Season 37. This is the final season to be sponsored and funded by AustinAspen Network as they have decided to not renew their sponsorship they had since July 2021. With that brings in two new sponsors to take over with Islanders Viewing Partners (a subsidiary of Austin Network) and Austin Network Trust Fund taking over from mid-July 2023 as the sponsorship was secured on June 23, 2023. Island Life is about to wind down here, following a leave or stay decision implemented on June 27, 2023, however after episode 1135, the leave or stay decision was dismissed after Redland Bay Marina jetty maintenance works were completed but the leave or stay decision was reinstated after a falling out in episode 1141. All future mainland excursions are to be cancelled but attractions already confirmed before the falling out are still to take place throughout July and (possibly) August 2023. Mainland shopping is also exempt from this as well.

## Season 39 - Living in Poverty (August 2023)

Season 39 is a continuation of Season 38. This season continues to implement a new recording format due to the video editor wind removal tool not working.

## Season 40 - Living in Poverty (September 2023)

Season 40 is a continuation of Season 39. This season will be the penultimate chapter as the cameraman announces he is focusing on this program as usual and finding somewhere to live on the mainland off camera in his spare time. He is not making announcements about where he is planning to relocate but he says that Islanders should continue to get their episode uploads on YouTube. A separate announcement was made by Austin Network stating they will recommence broadcasting Island Life starting with episode 1,114 on September 16. This is the final season under its original title "Island Life" as Season 41 will be under the name "Russell Island Adventures on Island Life".

\*- Episode was to be uploaded on October 22, 2023 but was postponed to October 23, 2023 due to not completing the batch on time.

## Season 41 - Russell Island Adventures on Island Life (October 2023)

This is the first season to be named with Russell Island in the title, effectively naming the series "Russell Island Adventures on Island Life". This is in a last ditch effort to bring in new subscribers and new views from new Islanders.

## Season 42 - Russell Island Adventures on Island Life (November 2023)

Season 42 serves as a continuation of Season 41. Views are down compared to March 2023. But thanks to Austin Network broadcasting new episodes, a renewal was eventually accepted. This season sees the excursions cut down as El Nino barrels down on Southeast Qld. This is the most boring season to come with Uncle Thomas now gone. This is the final season filmed before the cameraman was forced to sleep in the living room due to the summer El Nino.

## Season 43 - Russell Island Adventures on Island Life (December 2023)

Season 43 serves as a continuation of Season 42. Views are still falling downhill though which puts Island Life in a terrible position. Although the cameraman had slept in the living room for a short time, he got to sleep in bed compared to the year prior. With Wayne the Islander and Uncle Thomas gone, it's up to the cameraman to bring Island Life back to relevance once again. Russell Island Adventures on Island Life is a last ditch effort to revive Island Life. If views do not venture uphill, funding will be cut down again, with Islanders Viewing Partners cutting funding by around 30% for the next six months to mid-2024.

In December 2023, Austin Network had decided to broadcast the 22 remaining December 2023 episodes during the last few days of the year.

## Season 44 - Russell Island Adventures on Island Life (January 2024)

Season 44 serves as a continuation of Season 43. This season sees a total overhaul, particularly with a new logo and title. This would be the first major overhaul of Island Life since Season 2, citing downturn in views.

## Season 45 - Russell Island Adventures on Island Life (February 2024)

Season 45 serves as a continuation of Season 44. It was ordered alongside January 2024.

## Specials

 S1247
 Island Life Fest revisits 40 of the most viewed Island Life episodes from each season up to Season 40.

## Future

The next renewal is to be announced on November 30, 2023. Starting in January 2024, renewals will run on a two month renewal basis. In August 2023, Wilkes Sr. has announced that he will be working on Island Life as well as implementing on relocating back to the mainland starting in September 2023 as the population surge is taking a toll on his mental health which was already in terrible figures due to his autism and his hermit-like behaviour as displayed since June 2020. Two months later, he decided to put some wheels in motion in implementing relocating back to the mainland, finding the money to do so, though the idea died in December 2023 when things had gone downhill. The deadline is mid-late November 2025 with the last episode to be recorded, at the latest, November 23, 2025. He announces that following the final Island Life episode, he is retiring from acting and instead focus on the remainder of his life. Many claim however that he should create a sequel series following his mainland stay but Wilkes Sr. has said that is not happening. However, he is not ruling out occasional post-Island Life updates on YouTube.