Hell's Kitchen has drawn strong ratings for Fox in its first showing outside of the summer.

The reality show was given an extra run in the main television season because of the knock-on effect of the writers' strike.

On Tuesday night it drew an impressive 12.6m viewers in a slot following big-hitter American Idol - the largest ever for the show.

Kitchen's audience was 61% of that for Idol. The opener of drama New Amsterdam, which followed Idol previously, managed just 42% of the reality show's audience.

Another reality favourite, Dancing With the Stars, was also showing at 9pm on Tuesday and comprehensively beat Kitchen with 16.9m viewers for ABC.