The Voice star slams 'unnecessary' hate towards finalist amid 'rigged' rumours

This year’s season of The Voice Australia is quickly approaching its end, with the finale set to take place on Sunday night. The four finalists competing for the coveted title and $100,000 prize money are Jaedyn Randell on Team Kate, Reuben De Melo on Team LeAnn, Annie Jones on Team Adam, and Skÿe on Team Guy.

While all four of the remaining singers have received praise on social media, some viewers have begun speculating that the competition has been “rigged” in one person’s favour. It certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed that Skÿe, who first appeared on the reality show back in 2015 under his birth name Nicolas Duquemin, has been appearing in commercials for Afterpay since this year’s season of The Voice began airing on TV.

“It’s become clear now Guy has the proposed rigged winner,” one person commented, while another added, “I think he wins it, cause there is nobody else doing ads and he does the Afterpay ad. I'm not saying he does but it's weird”.

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Others have also questioned why certain contestants who they believe are much stronger have been eliminated as opposed to the four finalists.

“Oh it feels so rigged this year the singers that should be in the grand final aren't in it,” someone else shared, followed by a different user who said, “Many of the good contestants have been eliminated to allow for Skÿe to have a smooth run home.”

Voice star rushes to Skÿe’s defence

Ahead of the final episode, one of this year’s contestants has taken to social media to defend the top four contestants. Laura Glynn, who was on Team LeAnn before she lost to Reuben in the Knockouts, took to a popular Facebook group this week to call out the “unnecessary” hate towards Skÿe and urge viewers to “be kind”.

“Skye is an amazing person and performer. His voice knows no bounds,” she wrote. “This hate towards him is ugly and unnecessary. You’re entitled to an opinion, however, share it by voting for the person you think should win. Not by publicly hating the contestants (who are human beings by the way).

“I speak for all artists on the show when we say we know ZIP during the filming process. We are along for the ride and do our best on stage. Keep the peace. There is so much more strength and power in being encouraging. It takes no effort to criticise. Be kind. I can’t imagine what it is like to be on the other side of this venom being spat.”

Others have also slammed the “trolls” criticising Skÿe and said he “absolutely deserves his place in the competition”.

“Skÿe you have a wonderful voice, keep it up. Don’t worry what other people think,” one fan shared, with another writing, “The venom for this young man is appalling”.

“I know Skÿe and his family. His mum is one of my best friends. Known them since Skÿe (Nicolas) was 4yo. All this hate and rumour-mongering is so hurtful,” a third replied.

Who is Skÿe?

Skÿe is a 26-year-old Melbourne-based singer who released his debut EP all the things I never said in February this year.

He originally competed on The Voice’s fourth season in 2015 under his birth name Nicolas Duquemin and auditioned with the song ‘XO’ by Beyoncé. He managed to turn two of the coaches' chairs, Delta Goodrem and Joel and Benji Madden, before deciding to join Delta’s team.

The then-17-year-old received a Fast Pass to skip the Super Battle Round but was eliminated in the first Live Show when he sang ‘King’ by Years & Years.

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This season, he received a four-chair turn performing Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For?’ in his Blind Audition. Kate Miller-Heidke described his voice as “transcendent”, “angelic” and “freakishly beautiful”, while Adam Lambert said that he was “blown away” by his vocal abilities.

Guy Sebastian, who Skÿe ended up choosing to go with, also remarked that he was a “coach’s dream”.

“Technically you’re brilliant, vocally it was stunning and you’ve got this real humility and groundedness about you,” he shared. “But your true superpower is the fact that you’re unique. It just gives you room to be Skÿe and be unapologetic about it and just do you and explore where that will go with no boundaries.”

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