• First night of The Knockouts on The Voice manages another 1m+ audience
Seven
For the My Kitchen Rules grand final, Seven promised an epic battle as each team served up a five-course menu, producing a total of 100 plates for a packed restaurant in Kitchen HQ. The channel also promised the most explosive backstage blow-up of all time! All of that combined to give Seven a big Sunday ratings win and its best share since the controversial closing night of the Commonwealth Games.
The Gold Coast’s Alex and Emily were crowned My Kitchen Rules Champions for 2018 after delivering a five-course menu that peaked with a “theatrical, show-stopping” dessert. It was a rollercoaster journey to the grand final for the experimental and often emotional duo, marked by three People’s Choice awards, two trips to Elimination House and first place in the Ultimate Instant Restaurant round. Alex and Emily won with a total of 55 out of 60 with four 9s and a 10 from one of the judges.
Their opponents, Melbourne mums Kim and Suong, drew on their Vietnamese heritage to produce a “sensational” and “flavoursome” menu but stress in the kitchen plus an overcooked dessert let them down. They were not far off the pace though, just three points behind the winners as three judges also gave them 9s. Judges Karen and Manu were the difference with scores of 8 from each.
Alex and Emily won the MKR title and $250,000 to put towards their dream of opening their own venue.
Although the grand final attracted the lowest-ever audience, it was only down slightly from 2017’s 1.39m. The first four years of MKR saw it average over 2m for the final episode with the last two years under 1.4m. The audience for the Winner Announced segment of the episode was 1.54m, which was up from last year’s 1.50m.
Sunday Night followed MKR with 683,000, not too far behind Nine’s 60 Minutes.
Nine
The biggest controversy ever? We apparently had another one last night – this time on the first episode of the Knockouts on The Voice. It would have to have been a big bang to dent the final night of MKR. As it is, The Voice did a healthy 1.01m last night after 1.06m a week ago. Aydan was the first person through to the next round.
60 Minutes looked at alcohol in society, starting with the case of a very drunk Susan Lung, who was found by police passed out in her parked car on a busy Sydney street. As Allison Langdon reported, it’s a national health crisis that has police particularly worried. However, in Susan Lung’s case there’s an added complication. Despite being a staggering nine times over the legal alcohol limit, she didn’t lose her licence because police couldn’t prove she had driven her car while she was drunk. The episode did 707,000 and was just ahead of Sunday Night.
TEN
New Zealand actor Julian Dennison, who stars in Deadpool 2, was a guest on The Sunday Project, which did 343,000.
All Star Family Feud then managed 160,000 with stars from MasterChef raising money for charity.
The numbers climbed for NCIS to 251,000.
ABC
Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders took an entertaining trip through the champagne districts of France visiting big and small growers in Absolutely Champers. The program secured a spot in the top 10 with 511,000.
A final repeat episode of Midsomer Murders, for now, then did 344,000.
SBS
Part three of The Celts did 190,000 at 7.30pm.
SBS World News had the next best audience with 160,000.
There was more wine on SBS after 8.30pm with the Russell Crowe-narrated doco Red Obsession on 111,000.
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