The Network Ten, part scripted, part reality drama The Shire pulled 913,000 viewers for its half hour debut to be 11th on Monday night.
At first glance it would appear its ratings were inflated since The Shire started late at 8.10pm and effectively took in 10 minutes of MasterChef's viewers.
The reality cooking show, which had the first of three eliminations for the week, was the number one program with 1.355 million viewers on Monday.
But Ten says The Shire, on actual screening times and not advertised times which is what the the ratings are based on, actually had a far bigger audience.
Ten says The Shire actually had 941,000 viewers on "confirmed times" and peaked at 1.1 million for the evening.
Despite a solid debut The Shire, which could be likened to seeing a train crash in that you shouldn't watch it but then again can't stop looking, incurred the wrath of its local Federal MP Scott Morrison.
The Shire is filmed in Morrison's Cook electorate and he did not want to give the show any positive publicity when interviewed on Tuesday morning.
"I just thought it was cheap rubbish and that's the feedback I'm getting," Morrison told Fairfax Radio Network.
"I wasn't surprised quite frankly that this was the direction it was going to go down.
"But I'm not going to give cheap rubbish more publicity by giving it much oxygen today."
With The Shire finishing 11th, MasterChef was Ten's only joy in the top 10.
Revenge was second with 1.344 million viewers with news or current affairs programs filling the next five spots.
Nine News with 1.250 million was third, followed by Seven News (1.224 million), A Current Affair (1.062 million), ABC News (1.043 million) and Today Tonight (1.032 million).
Soapie Home and Away was eighth with 954,000 viewers and Australian Story was ninth with 942,000.
Even though Seven's Amazing Race pulled the same ratings figures as The Shire it had slightly more viewers, as the figures are rounded to the thousand.
Top rating shows on Monday:
1. MasterChef(Ten) - 1,355 million
2. Revenge (Seven) - 1.344 million
3. Nine News (Nine) - 1.250 million
4. Seven News (Seven) - 1.224 million
5. A Current Affair (Nine) - 1.062 million
6. ABC News (ABC) - 1.043 million
7. Today Tonight (Seven) - 1.032 million
8. Home and Away (Seven) 954,000
9. Australian Story (ABC) - 942,000
10. The Amazing Race (Seven) 913,000
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