Ten’s long-running cooking competition finished on Tuesday night, with a surprise winner and a disappointing number of viewers.

Fewer people watched the winner announced segment of MasterChef on Tuesday night than ever before in the shows 13-season history.
Just 931,000 people in the five mainland capital cities tuned in to see 27-year-old former Hillsong pastor Justin Narayan come from behind to win the cooking contest by a single point from runner-up Pete Campbell, with fan favourite Kishwar Chowdhury finishing third.
West Australian Justin Narayan is named winner of MasterChef Australia 2021.Credit:Ten
The previous low was set in 2019 when 992,000 people tuned in to watch Matt Preston, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan reveal the best home cook in Australia for what would turn out to be the last time.
Ten announced on Wednesday morning that the show had averaged 724,000 metro-city viewers across its 61 episodes this year, which is roughly 10 per cent better than it managed in 2019, when it managed just 651,000 across the same number of episodes.
Year-on-year, the season average was down a massive 26 per cent, from 980,000 an episode. The figures for 2020, however, benefited from three major factors: the all-star line-up that saw past contestants return to compete; the curiosity in and appeal of the new hosts, Andy Allen, Jock Zonfrillo and Melissa Leong; and the fact so many of us were homebound because of COVID restrictions.
In a release issued on Wednesday morning, Lisa Squillace, national sales director of 10 ViacomCBS, said MasterChef Australia undeniably resonates in the Australian psyche as a premium, trusted and heart-warming show. Once again, it has proven it is a winning recipe as audiences and brands engaged in another compelling season.
The final three: Kishwar Chowdhury, Justin Narayan and Pete Campbell.Credit:Ten
But theres no escaping the fact of a 39 per cent decline in viewing for what has traditionally been one of Tens biggest ratings events of the year, the winner announced segment.
Does that suggest weve had our fill of MasterChef? Not necessarily. Free-to-air audiences across the board have been in steady decline since the advent of streaming and the rise of the personal video recorder, two technology-driven changes that have effectively liberated viewers from the tyranny of the program schedule.