SYDNEY — The “Meghan Effect” landed Down Under for the second time this year after the Duchess of Sussex made an appearance on Channel 10’s “MasterChef” Australia television program on Sunday night.
Recorded during the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s private four-day tour of Australia in April, Markle appeared as a guest judge on episode 56 of Season 18, alongside permanent judges Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin and Jean-Christophe Novelli. The show is based on the BBC’s original “MasterChef” U.K. concept.
Prince Harry made a surprise guest appearance via Markle’s phone during the taping.
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Ratings for the episode soared to about 1.2 million, the show’s biggest overnight Sunday audience in three years and its biggest ever overnight streaming audience of 118,000, according to Australian media reports citing OzTAM data.
Markle wore a black blouse from Matteau over a black Camilla and Marc skirt, paired with black Manolo Blahnik pumps. She had already advertised these details in April on her page on the Los Angeles-based, creator-led fashion discovery platform One-Off, with which she partnered as both a participant and investor just prior to the April trip to make her tour looks shopable. At least 16 local brands were featured in her tour wardrobe, including Karen Gee, Scanlan Theodore, St Agni, P Johnson, Beare Park, Paspaley, Friends With Frank and Rolla’s Jeans.
In April, Markle’s publicist told WWD that over two dozen Australian products had sold out, with OneOff co-founder and chief executive officer Emir Talu noting the platform had surpassed 1 million views of outfits on the site in the first three days since Markle had launched her page on the platform.
Although Matteau declined to comment and Camilla and Marc had not responded to a request for comment at press time, according to Launchmetrics data supplied to WWD in April, the tour generated a total of $51.6 million in media impact value [MIV] between the dates of April 14 and 17, with Australian fashion and jewelry brands major beneficiaries of the attention.
“The Sussexes’ Australia tour is a reminder that the Sussex effect still translates into real brand performance. When Meghan wears a brand, the data follows,” said Launchmetrics chief marketing officer Alison Bringé.
