Seven has finally found a formula to knock Nine’s Hamish and Andy off their ratings perch, with The X Factor dominating again last night, as Big Brother slipped under a million for the first time this series.

The continued presence of superstar chef cum chemist Heston Bluemthal on MasterChef has also pulled the ratings for that show up by its bootstraps, with 827,000 tuning in according to the OzTam Preliminary Overnight report, the 11^th most-watched show.

But the primary channel slumped to just a 10.4% share of ratings, less than half of its commercial rivals, and less than ABC1’s 12.8%.

Gem’s coverage of The Ashes also failed to break into the top 20, despite the Australian team threatening to reignite the series before bad weather forced play to be called off early, although the channel did pull 9% of viewing last night.

The X Factor continued its dominance with 1.379m, ahead of Seven News (1.347m) and Nine News (1.328m), with Hamish and Andy’s Gap Year Asia fourth overall with 1.191m.

New Seven period drama Mr Selfridge helped the station to top share with 983,000 in the 8.45pm slot, and Home and Away also broke the million mark, posting 1.052m, seventh overall.