A favourite for the title from his very first audition, 30-year-old husband and father Elvis Blue from George won
the sixth season of Idols on Tuesday night, beating worthy adversary L'loyd Cele.
Elvis and L'loyd had decided before the finale to share the cash prize of R500,000 no matter who won, so runner-up L'loyd also walked away with R250,000 in cash, not to mention a whole bunch of new fans.
Elvis bagged an impressive package of prizes, including the main one: a recording contract with the Universal Music Group. In addition to his record contract, Elvis also won the following:
A new Ford Figo
R500,000 cash (halved with L'loyd)
A Samsung Blu Ray Home Theatre System with 42" 3D LED TV
A Samsung 3D Blu Ray DVD Player
A Shure ULX Professional Wireless Microphone system valued at over R15,000
Yamaha Vouchers for R50,000 worth of Yamaha musical equipment
Vouchers for R20,000 worth of fashion from Truworths
A total of 2,398,962 valid votes were cast for the finale, which - along with the turnout at auditions this season and the unusually high level of competition - led M-Net to announce a seventh season of Idols straight after the finale on Tuesday night.
"The sheer numbers of people who turned out for the audition and the impressive level of talent of the Top 10 group demonstrated that South Africa is ready for another season as soon as possible," said M-Net Head Of Channel, Pierre Cloete, at a news conference after the finale.
Idols Season 7 will hold auditions in February and March 2011 and contestants from a bunch of unusual places can lobby to have Idols visit their city, including Blomefontein, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth, East London and Grahamstown.
We'll keep you posted on details.
The consensus on Season 6 of Idols seems to be that it was the best season of the show to date, especially in terms of the level of talent. Do you agree? And are you happy with the result?