• 998,000 watched the State of Origin Pre Match
• Travel Guides dominated with over 1 million in Total TV
Total TV Ratings, May 24
Nine’s Travel Guides saw our avid explorers cross the ditch for an epic North Island road trip, but before they hit the road, they stopped by Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest and coolest city. 1,094,000 watched, lifting 34%.
Seven’s Home and Away came in next, with 966,000 watching as Xander and Kate took comfort in each other while Mali and Rose’s siblings pushed them back together, up 21%. Then, 958,000 joined host Jim Jefferies for more quizzical fun on The 1% Club, lifting 17%.
The finale of SBS’ Alone Australia brought in 899,000 viewers, lifting a whopping 133%, as Rewilding facilitator Gina Chick was crowned the winner after surviving 67 days in the remote wilds of Western Tasmania / lutruwita.
Lifting by a 34% rise was 10’s MasterChef Australia, with 653,000 tuning in to see the biggest Service Challenge the series had ever seen! The Turquoise team of Adi, Cath, Robbie, Phil, Declan, Jessica, Grace and Amy, were victorious, earning them a spot in Thursday’s Immunity grab.
Overnight TV Ratings, May 31
Primetime News
Seven News 955,000 (6:00pm) / 880,000 (6:30pm)
Nine News 771,000 (6:00pm) / 766,000 (6:30pm)
ABC News 515,000
10 News First 236,000 (5:00pm)/ 190,000 (6:00pm)
SBS World News 145,000 (6:30pm)/ 119,000 (7:00pm)
Daily Current Affairs
A Current Affair N/A
7.30 385,000
The Project 231,000 6:30pm / 322,000 7pm
Breakfast TV
Sunrise 227,000
Today 202,000
News Breakfast 127,000
Nine won Wednesday night with a primary share of 39.7% and a huge network share of 44.7%. 7Two has won multi channels with a 2.3% share.
There was no A Current Affair on Nine last night, as it was all about the NSW Blues and the QLD Maroons in game one of the NRL State of Origin! A magnificent 1,981,000 watched as QLD claimed a victory against NSW, 26-18, which Queensland great Paul Vautin called the “greatest win of all time”. “This Origin game gets better every year,” the commentator said in a post-match wrap-up. The game started strong with a try by QLD’s Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow in the 9th minute. By the end of the second half, and with only 12 minutes to go, the Maroons became a man down when prop Tom Flegler was sin-binned for a high shot on Blues centre Tom Trbojevic. With the score 18-16 to the Blues and one less player, the Maroons managed to make a stellar comeback, cementing a win and earning themselves bragging rights as winners of game one. 712,000 then stayed on to watch State of Origin Post Match, while earlier, 998,000 tuned in for State of Origin Pre Match.
423,000 began their evening in Summer Bay with Seven’s Home and Away as Kirby and Theo got on the same level and Marilyn dug her heels in, before 215,000 tuned in for Code 1: Minute by Minute. The episode detailed first-hand accounts from emergency workers and survivors of the country passenger train that was travelling towards Melbourne which was struck by a semi-trailer that had been travelling at 100 kilometres per hour. 124,000 stayed on to watch US drama Accused.
On 10, The Project’s (231,000 6:30pm / 322,000 7pm) Sarah Harris spoke with Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas before looking at the age-old question for males. Should you sit or stand when needing the toilet? Sports journalist Daniel Cherny then spoke about the coaches at the centre of the Hawthorn racism scandal, who say they have been ‘vindicated’ after the AFL formally closed its investigation into claims of bullying and coercion of Indigenous players. Then, it was a nostalgic Service Challenge on MasterChef Australia! The episode was all about evoking childhood memories with dinner from a Chinese restaurant and the home cooks were delivering just that. The contestants took over a suburban Melbourne Chinese restaurant, Mei Jing, with the Red team of Theo (Team Captain), Brent, Cath, Declan, Robbie, and Malissa plus Adi, winning the right to play for Immunity in tonight’s Immunity Challenge. 402,000 viewed the delicious challenge.
SEE ALSO: MasterChef Recap Episode 18: A nostalgic Service Challenge spelled chaos for six cooks
385,000 watched ABC’s 7.30 explore the reality of e-commerce which doesn’t always match the glitzy marketing and AI experts released a statement warning that “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority”. Sarah Ferguson also interviewed Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Then, 408,000 watched Hard Quiz with Tom Gleeson as competitors were quizzed on topics: morse code, the video game Animal Crossing, the movie Good Will Hunting, and Machin postage stamps before 172,000 watched Bob Morley and Ryan Corr’s In Limbo.
The highest rating non-news show on SBS was History of the Sitcom. 116,000 watched as the episode explored how sitcoms evolve to reflect the changing face of the fundamental social unit which is the family. From I Love Lucy to the blended Brady Bunch and the groundbreaking Black-ish to Fresh Off The Boat.