Three of Aussie TV’s favorite offerings premiered on Sunday night, competing in the same timeslot in the all-important ratings battle.
So how did Channel 7’s long-awaited return of My Kitchen Ruleswith megastar new judge Nigella Lawson, measure up against The Masked Singer on Channel 10, and The Block on Channel 9?
Overnight ratings released via TV Tonight see The Block‘s 18th season taking out the night, with an impressive 867,000 metro viewers.
The Masked Singer came in second with a respectable metro audience of 598,000, closely followed by My Kitchen Ruleswhich launched to 503,000 viewers.
The result is a year-on-year lift for The Blockwhich debuted to 747,000 metro viewers back in 2021. The other two shows are remaining mor stable from previous seasons: The Masked Singer last year opened to 642,000 metro viewers, while the last time MKR aired back in 2020, it opened to 498,000 viewers.
The home renovation show’s “biggest season ever” filmed in Gisborne, Victoria, introduced viewers to the five teams battling it out for a win on auction day — including “quitters” Elle Ferguson and Joel Patfull, who fled the set and threw in the towel after two days of filming.
Their first day on set was met with skepticism from one fellow contestant — outspoken mum Sarah-Jane, who was quick to question their inclusion.
“She’s already famous, she’s got 600,000 followers on Instagram, she’s got sh*tloads of money, why are they here?” she smoked to producers.
As for the first episode of Channel 10 quirky musical guessing game The Masked Singernone other that Ryan Moloney — Aka Toadfish — was unveiled as the knight, fresh off a 27-year stint on neighbors.
Singing Ed Sheeran’s Bad Habitsthe actor’s pipes elicited squeals of delight from judges Abbie Chatfield, Mel B, Dave “Hughesy” Hughes and Chrissie Swan when it came time for the big reveal.
Over on Channel 7, My Kitchen Rules‘Hotly anticipated return after a two-year hiatus was widely praised by viewers on social media thanks to Nigella Lawson.
The British home cooking queen, who was earlier announced as Pete Evans’ replacement for the 2022 season, appeared alongside French chef Manu Feildel on Sunday night, and fans have already declared she will “save the series”.
The show’s relaunch comes after MKR suffered declining ratings in 2019 and 2020.
In an effort to reinvigorate the franchise, the network parted ways with original Judge Evans following a slew of controversies, and promised the series would be bouncing back to its core values of “real food and real people” in 2022.
It’s understood Lawson will only feature in half of the season, with former MasterChef judge Matt Preston joining Feildel for the back half.
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