On top of claiming the unenviable title of TV flop of the year, Channel Seven’s failed Restaurant Revolution is set to burn the network further with reports advertisers will have to be refunded following disappointing ratings.

Yesterday, the federal court overruled Seven’s claims against Nine’s successful cooking show The Hotplate. Seven had claimed it was a direct copy of its own My Kitchen Rules and infringed on its intellectual copyright.

Barristers’ costs aside, the struggling cooking show is set to be moved from prime time to later on Thursday nights – or even axed altogether – having only attracted nationwide audiences around the 400,000-mark. It’s been reported that Seven had promised advertisers an audience of at least one million-plus.

A spokesman for Channel Seven, quoted in The Australian today, said: “Our clients have been across our plans and are very happy with how we are maintaining the value of their investment.”

There had been media reports that an average hour-long episode of Restaurant Revolution costs in excesss of $500,000 to produce and it’s unlikely Seven will continue to foot the hefty production bill. While other media commentators have argued that the chief reason for the show’s failure is that we’ve reached cooking show saturation. Viewers are bored and are tuning out.

Interestingly, the rejuvenated Ten and its new The Great Australian Spelling Bee has rated markedly well, pulling audiences over the one-million mark for in its first week.

As reported in B&T yesterday, Seven is set to replace Restaurant Revolution with the interestingly titled Cats Make You Laugh Out Loud.