MasterChef and Merlin cook up Sunday TV magic for Ten

Tim Burrowes

June 8, 2009 1:22

Ten’s strong early evening lineup won the network last night’s TV ratings battle as Nine put out the final Sunday episode of its misfiring renovation challenge HomeMade.

The evening began by going Seven’s way, with Sunday Night (1.275m viewers) just ahead of Ten’s Merlin (1.231m), while HomeMade was well behind its rivals on 0.967m.

But the advantage switched to Ten at 7.30pm where MasterChef pulled in an average of 1.427m viewers, while Seven’s Border Security USA saw the network’s audience fall away to an average of 1.079m viewers, just behind Nine’s 1.122m viewers for 60 Minutes.

And by 8.30pm, viewers were again mostly split between Seven’s Bones (1.122m) and Ten’s Rove (1.065m) which featured singer Pink. Nine’s CSI only pulled in an average of 809,ooo viewers.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.