Masterchef still bubbling along but Downton Abbey continues to struggle for Seven

Masterchef just failed to break the one million metro viewer mark for Ten last night but still comfortably held off its reality rivals, as Downton Abbey continued to struggle for Seven.

The cooking show, which started strongly for Ten this week with audiences of 1.23m and 1.02m for its first two outings, was split into two episodes last night, drawing 926,000 at 7.30pm and rising to 999,000 at 8.30pm, according to overnight OzTam overnight metro ratings.

Seven’s House Rules captured 655,000, a slight improvement on Wednesday night’s 631,000 but Reno Rumble fell again, from 791,000 to 766,000.