Masterchef’s tower of macarons delivers ratings high for Ten

Masterchef stormed to a new weekday high with 2.1m viewers tuning in to watch the elimination of Peter Kritikides after he struggled with his macaron tower on Monday night.

In something of a topsy-turvy battle, Seven had dominated early evening, with strong showings for Seven News (1.7m) and Today Tonight (1.6m) before the audience gravitated towards Ten for Masterchef.  

But Nine had the most consistent evening, with every show from 6pm to 9.30pm pulling in audiences of around a million or more, according to preliminary overnight metro ratings from OzTam. Rescue Special Ops recovered on its poor opening last week, drawing in an improved 1.1m.

By contrast, Seven struggled as the evening wore on. The Force: Random Breath Test pulled in 892,000 and Desperate Housewives 874,000. Hung only pulled in 555,000 viewers in the 9.30pm slot, against Nine’s CSI: Miami which did 885,000.