Luke Lovemore – the last Durban contestant still in singing competition The Voice SA – intends to make the most of his second chance in the contest.
The musician – who now lives in Cape Town – was one of two performers eliminated last week, only to be reinstated two days later.
The decision, said M-Net spokesperson Lani Lombard in a statement, was made in the interests of fairness and transparency, after the channel was alerted about alleged paid-for marketing efforts (boosted posts) on some contestants’ personal social media accounts.
“Paid-for marketing, which is against the rules, can cause voting spikes. This prompted (us) to conduct an investigation into the way in which these efforts could have affected the outcome. It was ascertained that only the past two voting periods, in which Lovemore and PJ Pretorius left, could have been affected.”
General manager for M-Net South Africa Nkateko Mabaso said at the time: “Despite our best efforts, we could not determine with certainty whether misconduct took place and what the impact was.”
The 23-year-old told The Mercury that he was feeling excited about Sunday’s final.
Lovemore got the call last Tuesday offering him the unexpected opportunity to return to the programme, bringing the number of contestants up to seven.
“I didn’t hesitate. I knew that if I didn’t take the opportunity I’d have regretted it.”
The vote results are independently computed by Deloitte and Touche and confirmed against the vote results determined by M-Net.