An emotional finale of The Voice SA sees Tasché Burger crowned champion

We spent a gripping evening observing the contestant's families.

The Voice SA concluded on Sunday with a rollercoaster final show that left the live audience at the Mosaiek Teatro at turns enthralled, excited and devastated. Sitting behind the families of the contestants we were given a first-hand view on what it’s like to support a reality TV finalist.

The evening started with two underwhelming performances from Tasché Burger and Soné Joubert who partnered with Francois van Coke, and Laurika Rauch, before the audience came to their feet for Eon le Roux, whose version of Elton John’s, “Don’t let the sun go down on me” with second season’s Caroline-Grace Brüssow was a powerful, and excellently delivered rendition. When Eon was announced as the one going home the crowd could hardly believe it, but with the votes calculated off the previous week, there could be few complaints.

A short break later and the PJ twins were playing backing dancers in the choreography to Timothy Moloi for Luther Vandross’ “Impossible dream”, before Judith Sephuma, joined final contestant Siki Jo-An for “I’m Every Woman” by Chaka Khan. It was a powerful performance that saw the Voice contestant confidently stand toe-to-toe with the legendary queen of Afro-jazz and no one was surprised to hear it would be the PJ Twins who were out next.

A row in front of us the families of Siki J-An and Tasché were getting nervous. Both had risen to a standing ovation in turn for their loved ones, but between takes were nervously encouraging each other, holding hands and staring around the room, trying to gauge the mood of the crowd. When the final three acts came back for the next round of performances the room was electric and Tasché rose to the challenge, with a powerfully emotive version of “Let it be” by the Beatles. She was clearly delighted with her own performance as she danced off the stage, off camera, waving wildly to her family and punching the air with delight.

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The final two performances in this section seemed definitive. Confined to a chair, because of her injured leg, the energy was missing for Soné whose choice of song, so similar to the previous one, though well executed, could hardly have been considered taxing. Meanwhile, Siki’s entrance alone marked her a star. Drifting down the stairs, in a red gown, with a crown on her head, she looked every bit a deserving finalist and it wasn’t long before her high energy version of “Vulindlela” by Brenda Fassie even had Tasché’s family up and dancing. As the chants of “Siki, Siki, Siki” rang out around the arena, the final two looked absolutely set in stone, but the voting patterns had a surprise in store for the fans in the arena.

Anele, who was a consummate, professional and hilarious host all evening read the result that the final two would be Tasché and Soné and the energy was sucked from the room like a cold breeze. A room that had been cooking with high energy just minutes before was now stunned to still silence as they bid farewell to a performer who had blown them away on the night. To Tasché’s family though the result was a good one. Nodding quietly they held hands and chatted quietly together, while Siki’s family in the row in front of them started yet another chant of, “Siki, Siki, Siki” that died soon after.

The final two were headed off stage, and as Tasché danced off the stage, once again waving to her supporters with infectious delight, you couldn’t help, but smile.

The final two songs were largely irrelevant. Part-time waitress Tasché had not spent a minute in the danger zone since the beginning of the live shows and she delivered another soulful performance while Soné, singing yet another Afrikaans hit – Joe Niemand’s, “Ek sal nie bang wees nie”, was once again solid. Tasché’s family were up and dancing again though, and suddenly, it was time for the announcement. Anele spoke a few words to the coaches, who gushed enthusiastically before she opened the envelope to declare the champion.

“The winner of the Voice SA season 3 is Tasché Burger,” she shouted, and the room erupted. Cannons of glitter fired and the air glowed as Tasché danced her delight and her family burst into tears in front of us. There were numerous hugs between the finalists’ families, as congratulations were passed back and forth down the rows of seats.

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As well as joining previous winners, Craig Lucas and Richard Stirton, as champion Tasché also won a recording contract with Universal Music South Africa, a Toyota RAV4, a Telkom tech bundle with a Huawei P30 Pro, a Tab M5 Lite, a router, and a Huawei Watch GT, Telkom data, and an Anti-Theft Backpack and Truworths clothing vouchers to the value of R100 000.