Chinese singer Jiang Dunhao won on Friday season 1 of “Sing! China” which held its finals at the Bird’s Nest. He got 47 votes or 56.7 percent, just 2 votes more than Nathan Hartono of Singapore who got 45 votes of 43.4 percent.
However, the results were questioned by viewers since there were only 81 judges, while 92 votes were cast in the finals on Oct. 7. While the producers of the singing competition has not commented on the discrepancy, the discrepancy was blamed on machine error, Beijing News reported.
One swipe on the machine is equal to one vote. When a swipe took a long time to be detected, the voting machine reads it again, explaining why 92 votes were cast with 11 more votes swiped in total. Jiang remains popular with the audience despite the problem with the tally.
Even if he placed second, Hartono said he does not consider it a loss since being part of the final two was unthinkable. “I couldn't be happier, you know. Just to be part of the final was a huge, huge honour and to have been picked in the final two, that was, to be quite honest, unthinkable for me. I'm happy with my performance, really just did the best I could last night,” Channel News Asia quoted the 25-year-old Singaporean.
Hartono said he is happy for Jiang’s win since his opponent is a great musician and really knows how to communicate with music. “Till today, his audition is stuck in my head. I sing it to myself at least once a day,” Hartono added.
He said he is not hurt by finishing second place, “not a single bit,” in his Instagram post. He sang “Moonlight in the City” by Mavis Hee and “Woman Flower” by Anita Mui. Jiang won with his rendition of “Windowsill.”