Nearly two million viewers tuned into MasterChef Australia last night, a new record for the TEN reality series.
1.96m viewers watched as seven aspiring chefs cooked prawns and nuts -an idea which on paper sounds like it would never work. But the series is surging, and doing exactly what producers want at this point of its life: building towards the finale.
MasterChef thrashed its rivals 60 Minutes (a still healthy 1.43m) and Border Security USA / The Force (909,000 / 974,000 -neither aired in Adelaide due to AFL).
Also of note last night was a strong start for Nine’s Random Acts of Kindness, winning its slot with 1.41m, much healthier than homeMADE which it replaced. It just bettered Merlin’s 1.39m and beat Sunday Night (1.15m, aired late in Adelaide).
On the ABC a new locally produced drama, 3 Acts of Murder, did respectably with 975,000 -the best figure for one of its local dramas this year. Nine’s CSI franchise is now a regular loser to Seven’s Bones and Rove. Elsewhere on Sunday, Nine’s Today show (299,000) was beaten Weekend Sunrise (403,000).
TEN won the night, despite the fact that The Biggest Loser is still tanking. Can it afford to stay?
Amended.
Give george, gary and matt $200 and a map of hong kong and i’ll bet they couldn’t find their way to a bus stop let alone to a food market
can sum one plese help me find all the recipes off master chef???
Where is everyone getting this celebrity masterchef rumour from? Could it be that the UK has just started their season of Celebrity MC and people are seeing it trend in Twitter and getting confused?
Not to be a Ten troll but I am confident they won’t dilute the brand for at least another two to three seasons.
I don’t buy that less than 30% of the audience being over 50. What’s your source?
I’ve heard from someone at Ten that Masterchef peaked at 2.380 million. That is an insane figure, especially considering the percentage of the over 50s audience is less than 30%. To hold the attention of such a huge number of under 50s is an amazing achievement and very rare in today’s television environment. When Seven and Nine have shows attracting 2 million viewers, they are always propped up by a huge percentage of viewers aged over 50.
Ten should put The US Biggest Loser on during the afternoons at 3pm. It would appeal to the same audience who watch repeats of Ready Steady Cook. The once a week show isnt as appealing as the aussie version.
The US Biggest Loser has to go, I love the high prodution Aussie version and can’t stomach (pun intented) the cheap, not even in wide screen US one … Ten should follow Rove with more comedy or move US Dance into that slot … would make for a perfect night of light entertainment to farewell the weekend
Wow good to see MasterChef doing so well. MasterChef is great, getting better and better.
I don’t think ever in TEN’s wildest dreams did they envision MasterChef reaching these Underbelly/Packed to the Rafters-like figures. And Nine would be happy with Random Acts of Kindness (finally a series they launch that didn’t tank!), helping them come a solid second. RAOK is not that bad – I watched the last 15 minutes and although it was almost obscenely sappy, it was utterly harmless unlike some other factual series.
The finale for Masterchef next month may well be the biggest rating show this year. Its only got to beat 2.5 mil, and the way its going, it will be there soon.
thanks David…ill whip across to that story and fix the fools who are giving act of kindness their love and insert some more homicide coments….
Harry, Ten dont squeeze a weeks work of US Loser into 90mins. NBC only air TBL for 90mins, once a week. Ten actually spread out the aussie one to air over 6 nights. The Aussie version that ten produces is a much higher quality show, even the US trainers Bob and Jillan thought so (they did seasons 1 – 2 in Aus and were part of the twist, training the secret “black team” in season 3 of the aussie version).
As for Masterchef, Wow who would of thought that this would be as big as BB and Idol was in there 1st seasons, but nearly 2 mil for a sunday challenge is amazing (it actually peaked at over 2mil). ROK did ok, not a bad show but if there were better 6:30 options i’d watch them, up until last week i watched nuffing on 6.30 sunday.
@dan that aint ten’s fault, that’s how the biggest loser is like in the US…
Have to apologies for doubting Masterchef, thought it would definitely tank.
Well done Ten.
Random Acts of Kindness is actually getting a lot of love from people who have searched the net and left comments on an earlier story here.
Correction: Apologies for comparing early Today show figures with later Sunrise figures. Now corrected.
I can see the Random Acts of Kindness discussion going into what i saw on the Chaser posts – anyone who laughs is a bad person. Similarly, anyone who does not like the idea of these types of factual shows is a bad person. So before anyone says something like that – no.
I can’t believe people are watching Random Acts of Kindness. Maybe next week we’ll see what people really think and it’s numbers will be much lowerer.
BTW it’s title is all wrong. They’re still doing one of these feel good, unsung heroes type program. True Random Acts of Kindness is like giving $20 to a total stranger. Not that I’m knocking people that do good work, just don’t think much of the networks going with the way they go about rewarding them and showing us.
@barrett, i doubt anything that 9 has done is the reason that CSI’s aren’t rating. they have actually treated it quite well. it is largely because of the competition from bones and that people cannot warm to the new direction with fishbourne. the episodes that 9 are playing now were hitting series lows every week when they were airing in the US.
i don’t think CSI has much of a future in an 8:30 position let alone Sunday 8:30.
LOL random acts of homicide I am with Timmy start with 9s programmers
any show that uses the term “very special aussies” in its promos is one that I dont go near, so I gave Random Acts of Violence a wide berth…
It is nothing short if amazing that a cooking show could rate so well wonder how long it will be before seven try’s to poach master chef or start something similar of there own
TBL US is horrible. The way TEN have purposely squeezed a weeks worth of eps into one makes it hard to follow. Masterchef is great, loving it!
LMAO @ Random acts of homicide… they could start by “shooting” at Nine’s programming office. Maybe I’m just cynical, but I am so over Nine’s gushy manipulative unsung-hero crap that they keep dishing up. They did it to death in their lifestyle shows. Couldn’t they take a lead from their humble “heroes” and reward them for their work by not making a show about it?
I was a latecomer to Masterchef but it’s surprisingly good, although I only tune in for the Sunday and Monday shows.
9 can only blame themselves for CSI’s decline.
I hope the food on Masterchef tasted better than it looked last night. The top three dishes looked gross.
random acts of homicide – love it! I hate these sappy facutal shows.
i would rather watch random acts of homicide than kindness….im sick of this drivel served up from 9 again…give us a break…put homemade back on…or god the flinstones would be better
to be fair, the only reason biggest loser is tanking, is that it’s from 3 seasons ago so people most likely know the outcome by now… you’re living proof that people can be internet savvy
Law and Order, Harper’s Island, Better off Ted and American Dad. Quite an enjoyable night of TV last night for me. Reality TV free
MasterChef is a fantastic show, with very high production values. But please dont do a celebrity edition it will destroy the brand.
MasterChef? Random Acts of Kindness?
My God… what has television come to? -.-