Cape Argus

Craig Lucas has The Voice

He’s the winner of the second season of Voice SA

- Marvin Charles

CRAIG LUCAS plans to have a special thank you for his hometown of Elsies River for voting for him. He was announced the winner of the second season of The Voice South Africa, broadcast live on M-Net and M-Net City from Joburg. Lucas received more than 1.6 million votes, an all time record for the show. The ecstatic 24-year-old could not control the tears when he was crowned the winner. During each round of the competitio­n, Lucas blew audience members away with his unique style of singing of popular songs.

“It honestly feels like a tornado hit me,” Lucas said in a telephone interview from Joburg yesterday.

Lucas, a graduate in economics and politics at UCT, was born in Elsies River, and became involved with The Voice after his friends had persuaded him to audition for the second season of the show.

“I’ve always been a really big fan of the competitio­n. I believe It’s much more than an empowermen­t show. It doesn’t break down your talent.”

I’VE ALWAYS BEEN A REALLY BIG FAN OF THE COMPETITIO­N. I BELIEVE IT’S MUCH MORE THAN AN EMPOWERMEN­T SHOW

Lucas said without the community of Elsies River he wouldn’t have come this far. “Doing something special for all of them is my way to say thank you,” he said.

His family was present at the live show, including his mother Jenny Lucas. His mother arrived yesterday from Joburg and she was ecstatic.

“I am so proud of him, I still haven’t digested the news,” she said. His mother said that at first she was not aware that her son had entered the competitio­n.

“I didn’t even know he entered. Only after the blind auditions occurred he told me ‘mommy, I made it through’,” she said.

The show’s seven finalists had the opportunit­y to collaborat­e with local stars such as Heartboxin­g hitmaker Jimmy Nevis, Nianell and Nadine.

Lucas follows in the footsteps of last year’s winner Richard Stirton. For the first time in the history of the show the finale was contested by seven performers. This comes after deplorable voting tactics which resulted in the return of two contestant­s.

Earlier in the competitio­n M-Net had been alerted to alleged paid-for marketing efforts on some performers’ personal social media accounts. Paidfor marketing is against the rules of the competitio­n.

M-Net said it will be disclosing the voting figures from the grand finale later this week in the interest of transparen­cy.

 ??  ??
 ?? PICTURE: TRACEY ADAMS ?? TORNADO OF FANS! Craig Lucas wins The Voice SA. The crowd goes wild. His mother, Jenny Lucas, is on stage.
PICTURE: TRACEY ADAMS TORNADO OF FANS! Craig Lucas wins The Voice SA. The crowd goes wild. His mother, Jenny Lucas, is on stage.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from South Africa