In a battle of TV talent battles, MasterChef is beating X Factor when it comes to eyes on screens.
According to last night’s ratings from Nielson, One’s MasterChef managed to draw over 508,000 viewers, and X Factor, on rival network TV3, pulled in about 454,000.
Last night’s MasterChef saw the show’s toughest challenge yet with contestants asked to cook a turduckenqua – the centuries old practice of roasting a quail inside a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey.
X-Factor on the other hand, two episodes deep, had the formulaic singing contest structure down pat, wrote entertainment columnist Jule Scherer.
“Start off with somebody great, dip into the not so talented, have a couple of highlights and end with a real tear-jerker,” she wrote.
“It might be predictable, but it works – especially when there is a good back story.”
Wrapping up with a tragic tale was enough to detract from the “karaoke-gig” feel of the performance, with the judges even breaking down.
The premiere of New Zealand’s first season of The X Factor topped TV3’s previous ratings hit The Block.
According to MediaWorks the first episode had an average total audience of 487,700 which grew throughout the episode, peaking at 546,600 in the last quarter-hour.
By midnight Sunday, there had been 12,900 Video-on-Demand streams of the episode.
“We are absolutely delighted by the audience response,” MediaWorks head of programming Mark Caulton said.
“The X Factor NZ has been years in the planning, and it has been well worth the wait.”
The show was also a hit on social media, with four of the top five trending topics last night in New Zealand about the programme.
The X Factor NZ Facebook has already more than 38,500 followers, and a meme about contestant Mitchell Wahl (and his chickens) was viewed by more than 123,000 people within 30 minutes, TV3 said.
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