Craig Lucas (23) from Elsies River in Cape Town was announced as the winner of the second season of The Voice South Africa on M-Net (DStv 101) at the end of the 2-hour live broadcast from the Mosaiek Teatro in Fairland, Johannesburg.
The AMPN produced show with director Darren Hayward saw Parlotones frontman Kahn Morbee who remains one of the coaches on The Voice SA, clinch the title of winning coach for a second year in a row.
More than 1.6 million votes - a new voting record - were cast in the final week of voting for The Voice South Africa, although the voting system and voting process were once again marred as was the first season by voting issues that negatively impacted the TV reality singing competition.
Where the first season saw votes not counted in time, the last three weeks saw illegal online paid-for marketing "boosted social media posts" that forced M-Net, AMPN and auditors Deloitte and Touche to discard certain votes and to bring two ousted contestants back.
The illegal activity once again occured during the final week of voting, although M-Net says it didn't impact the ranking of the top remaining The Voice SA contestants. It also lead to 7 contestants in the live finale instead of the originally planned 4.
Craig Lucas who got the most votes beat out runner-up Josh Ansley (31), as well as Samantha Leonard (24), Caroline Grace Brussow (31), PJ Pretorius (26), Fatman (41) and Luke Lovemore (23).
While music has always been Craig Lucas' big passion, he first had to keep his promise to his mother to complete his university studies. Craig Lucas now holds an honours degree in finance from the University of Cape Town.
Craig Lucas wins a record deal from Universal Music South Africa and other sponsored prizes that include R250 000 in cash, a smartphone, watch, camera and flat screen TV set, R100 000 of clothes from a retailer and a car.
