MasterChef audience goes off the boil as million fewer tune in for final

The MasterChef audience appears to have gone off the boil, as nearly a million fewer viewers tuned in to watch this year's winner crowned than in 2015.

This year's final, which saw mother-of-four Jane Devonshire handed the trophy, brought in an average overnight audience of 4.98 million viewers and a 24.9% market share.

But Simon Wood's win last year drew in an average audience of 5.85 million and a peak of 6.6 million, making it the highest-rated show of the night outside the soaps.

On Friday, Devonshire was named champion in one of the closest finals, beating competitors Jack Layer, 27, and Billy Wright, 32, with a three-course menu of winkles on toast, Indian-inspired roast lamb and rhubarb and custard dessert.

She revealed on the show that she had been fighting cancer for the last 10 years, with the past three in remission.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Saturday, Devonshire, 50, said that she had kept her fight secret from judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace on the show.