On Sunday night (May 29), 24-year-old Lachie Gill was crowned the winner of The Voice Australia, and what followed next was, unfortunately, anger. After voting had closed, host Sonia Kruger read out the winner from an envelope, and lo and behold, it was Lachie who came out on top.
He stood on stage next to his fellow finalists — Thando Sikwila, Jordan Tavita and Faith Sosene — who were all people of colour, when the verdict was announced, and people were left outraged.
“Of course, the white boy’s gonna win,” said one user on Twitter, with another saying: “Not happy at all with the result on @TheVoiceAU you had three amazing singers with beautiful voices and the white guy with an average voice wins, please make it make sense.”
Speaking to POPSUGAR Australia, Lachie addressed the backlash, saying: “There’s always going to be [negativity] and I totally understand where these people are coming from. Some can be a little harsh, but it’s a competition. They have their favourites and I had my favourites. I loved the three other people standing up there with me.”
However, it’s now been revealed by news.com.au that thousands of votes had allegedly disappeared after fans sent their preferred winner to the wrong number.
Viewers were able to vote by texting the name of their favourite contestant to 0417 779 667 up to three times per person. Unfortunately, thousands of votes were accidentally sent to Brisbane resident Antoni instead, as his number was similar to the one Channel 7 provided.
At no point did Channel 7 post the wrong number on its social media, website or on-air throughout the voting period.
It’s been reported that the 50-year-old had an influx of text messages, which began to increase rapidly while the finale was airing.
“I deleted the first few hundred [messages] because I thought I was being spammed, not realising people were voting. I have not watched the show and had no idea why people were texting me the contestant names,” he explained.
“It wasn’t until I saw an advert with the mobile number posted that I realised how close it was to my number…and the penny dropped.
“I have probably a couple thousand texts that could be added up, and a few hundred voice messages where people verbally voted,” he told news.com.au.
Antonio admitted to deleting hundreds of messages, so it’s difficult to determine how many votes went uncounted.
Can’t get enough of The Voice Australia? Read more here:
- Lachie Gill Opens Up About the Backlash After Winning The Voice Australia
- The Voice Australia Has Crowned its Winner for 2022!
- Everything You Need to Know About The Voice’s Grand Finale — Including How to Vote
- Meet the Talented Vocalists Who Are Stepping Onto the Stage for The Voice Australia
- The Voice Australia Is Returning With a Fresh Group of Talented Vocalists
- The Voice Australia is Set to Return and We Have a First Look!
