The Voice SA: Yes, Richard Did Win

And that is it for the first season of The Voice South Africa.

Unfortunately for them, but more so for the deserved winner, Richard Stirton, the finale as well as his crowning moment ended with a whimper, and not a bang.

The thing that derailed yet another M-Net production? A voting glitch - again. After the Top 4 were revealed based on last week's votes - Richard, Gavin Edwards, Almur Marais, and Jeremy Olivier - the online voting platforms were opened for the final voting.

M-Net failed to foresee just how many votes would be rolling in. They did not prepare for the thousands of viewers who would be rushing to cast their final votes - in a mere 30 or so minutes.

To be frank, the whole idea, the decision to open the platforms for a short space of time, was clumsy and completely ill-judged. When thousands of viewers picked up their phones to vote, the sites crashed. Both voting platforms offered up nothing but difficulties which left viewers, like myself, pretty agitated and angry.

Then Lungile announced that the votes during the finale would not be eligible. Your time and data was wasted.

When Richard was announced as the winner, his moment, the moment that he should be remembering for the rest of his life, the moment he would incessantly tell his future grandkids about, was shrouded in another M-Net voting fudge up.

That said, it was the right decision.

The votes cast during the week should have been the only eligible votes. Viewers had several days to choose their winner - and they did.

It was Richard Stirton. iTunes would tell you the exact same thing.

Congrats, Richard