MasterChef finale attracts lowest-ever audience

Ten’s long-running cooking show has suffered another hit amid a week of turmoil and the mass exit of all three of its judges.

MasterChef has suffered another blow amid the fallout from the mass exodus of its three long-time judges.

Network 10 pulled the plug on Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris, and confirmed the trio will not return to MasterChef next year - just hours before the season 11 finale aired.

Sadly, it wasn’t even enough to compel viewers to tune in for the trio’s final ever appearance on the show, with last night’s episode attracting the series’ lowest-ever ratings for a finale.

MasterChef drew an average national audience of 831,000 viewers, with a peak of 992,000 when the winner was announced.

It marked a dramatic drop on the 2018 ratings, which peaked at 1.32 million.

The three judges have become some of Aussie TV’s most recognisable faces.

Ten dropped the bombshell about the judges’ future with the show late on Tuesday, amid mounting calls for Calombaris to be sacked.

In a statement chief executive officer Paul Anderson said: “Despite months of negotiation, 10 has not been able to reach a commercial agreement that was satisfactory to Matt, Gary and George.”

“We would like to thank Gary, George and Matt for their contribution over the past 11 years,” he said.

However, their dramatic departure from Network 10 could see the ex-MasterChef judges pursue much more lucrative international opportunites, it has been claimed.

In an interview on Kyle and Jackie O this morning, entertainment reporter Peter Ford claimed it was money that killed the contract negotiations.

“It was about money. Don’t forget, this is only a four-month-a-year gig. They initially went in wanting $1.5 million each and a guarantee of two years – that’s $9 million in total,” he alleged.

“They can make a lot of money on the side – that glow of being on TV gives them the chance to go and appear at a food festival for the day and pick up $100,000. Even doing an after-dinner speaking gig, they can pick up $30, $40 grand for that.”

And while the trio — who stuck together through contract negotations — may be without a TV gig for now, Ford said they could easily capitalise on MasterChef’s existing popularity in lucrative overseas markets.

“They will bounce back – I don’t doubt for a second that Netflix will put a deal to them. The three of them are very popular internationally. They’re huge in India, the Middle East, all around the world. They don’t have the rights to MasterChef, so they’d have to dream up some new show.”

Host Jackie O compared the possible scenario to that of Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, who devised and hosted a similar show called The Grand Tour after leaving Top Gear in 2015.

The ‘Three Amigos’ speak out

All three judges broke their silence over their MasterChef exit on social media, giving different explanations for their exodus.

Preston confirmed on Instagram they were “really keen to continue but we were unable to agree to all terms for the new contract”.

“I don’t want to take any gloss off tonight’s well deserved winner so I will not be making any further comment,” he said.

Mehigan wrote on his Instagram that the decision to walk away was “never about the money and never will be about the money”.

“We couldn’t agree on the term of the new contract for 2020 and season 12 … Working together will continue to be the most important thing for us,” he said.

Meanwhile Calombaris gave another explanation for walking away.

“We were close to signing a new contract for season 12 however the dates just didn’t align,” he wrote on Instagram.

Calombaris, Mehigan and Preston were reportedly on salaries “well over $1 million” on the Ten cooking show, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

All three are believed to have left MasterChef after the network refused to up their salaries “by more than 40 per cent”, according to the newspaper.

News.com.au has contacted Ten for comment.

Calombaris has been under fire after it was revealed he had underpaid staff working for his Melbourne restaurant empire more than $7.8 million.

The chef and his Made Establishment company was fined a “contrition payment” of $200,000 by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Calombaris has apologised for his actions, but that did not stop more than 22,000 people signing a petition calling for him to be sacked from MasterChef.

MasterChef judge George Calombaris. Picture: AAP/Image Sarah Marshall

“George should pay a serious price for this massive theft of workers’ wages,” the petition read.

“Channel Ten should stop making excuses for this serial wage thief.”

The celebrity chef was dumped from a West Australian tourism campaign on Monday.

Calombaris featured in Tourism WA’s advertising campaign “Create Your Own Gourmet Escape in WA”, which first aired in the eastern states during WA Week on MasterChef this month and was due to run until September.

Tourism WA managing director Brodie Carr on Monday said the ads with Calombaris had been suspended, although the campaign with MasterChef would continue.

“We’ve paused all of our work with George for now and we’re talking to his management about recouping some of our costs that we’ve paid him,” Mr Carr told 6PR radio.

The three judges have been with the show since its first season.

“We’ll continue with the campaign that we’re doing with MasterChef but probably not with George.”

PR guru Patrick Southam from Reputation Edge had told Mumbrella that Network Ten’s position was a “massive cop out”.

“Ten’s PR ‘strategy’ is crude but obvious — back Calombaris, don’t give the story oxygen in the final week by staying silent, and hope it will all be forgotten by viewers by the time season 12 rolls around,” Southam wrote.

But even Southam didn’t think Ten would go as far as letting Calombaris go.

“Ten would be quietly furious with Calombaris’ latest stuff-up, but dumping him ahead of the peak ratings week of the series was never a serious option. MasterChef is one of the biggest shows on Ten’s low-rating roster,” he wrote in his column.

The cooking show is one of Network Ten’s only major competitors in the ratings. This year, the show pulled in between 550,000-650,000 metro viewers a night.

The season finale will air tonight.

Earlier today, Preston gave no hint he and the show’s judges were leaving the show, sharing a photo on Instagram of the duo ahead of the finale.

Fan reaction to the news MasterChef was losing its judges was swift; but there was no sympathy for Calombaris.

MAKE HUEY THE NEXT JUDGE, YOU COWARDS#MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/hk1GC5lffP

— 🍂❄️🐕Patrick Lenton🌚🍁🌬 (@PatrickLenton) July 23, 2019

Currently shedding 7.8 million crocodile tears for George Calombaris #MasterChefAU

— JC Clapham (@jcclapham) July 23, 2019

george, matt and gary aren't returning for season 12 of masterchef australia. petition to make me a judge so i can finally put a durian in the mystery box #masterchefau

— Amanda Yeo (@amandamyeo) July 23, 2019

Imagine saying low-paid hospo workers are paid too much and that penalty rates are hurting your profits (while living in a Toorak mansion), only to then unionise with your co-workers & quit because your $1 MILLION+ per season salary is too low!#WageTheft #MasterchefAU https://t.co/Yxc0nMsAe5

— Claire Boland (@ClaireLBoland) July 23, 2019

WHOA 😲 #MasterChefAU https://t.co/QiStbP8MN1

— Adam Liaw (@adamliaw) July 23, 2019

Good decision @Channel10AU - now hire judges who treat their workers properly! #MasterchefAU https://t.co/8MmEF3XYr0

— Claire Boland (@ClaireLBoland) July 23, 2019

Ironic that George left because 10 weren’t paying him enough. #MasterChef  #MasterTheft

— impossibleprince79 (@pjk27779) July 23, 2019

MasterChef was a ratings smash for Ten when it premiered in 2009, with its season one finale watched by more than 3.3 million viewers.

The cooking competition went on to spawn 10 more seasons as well as spin-offs Junior MasterChef and Celebrity MasterChef.

In recent years MasterChef ratings have waned, with season finales in 2017 and 2018 watched by just over 1.1 million.

Previous contestants have included Julie Goodwin, Poh Ling Yeow, Marion Grasby, Justine Schofield, Adam Liaw and Hayden Quinn.