Netizens Confused Over Shock Elimination Of The Star Voice Contestant Who Received Full Marks From Online Panel

In the penultimate episode of Mediacorp’s radio DJ talent hunt, The Star Voice, two contestants were eliminated, with the final three making it on to the grand finale next week.

However, it seems the elimination is not exactly going down well with netizens.

For a quick recap of the episode — all five contestants were tasked to come up with a script for a radio commercial and perform it live for the final challenge.

Before the challenge, they were given the opportunity to go for a workshop with guest judge and All-Time Favourite Artiste Mark Lee. Mark is one-fourth of the popular LOVE 972 radio show, The Breakfast Quartet.

Apart from Mark, LOVE 972 DJ Violet Fenying, as well as local content creator Annette Lee were also invited as guest judges.

Like the previous weeks, a panel of nine regular radio listeners were also asked to judge the performances of the contestants, and cast a vote if they liked it. The scores from the panel account for 10 per cent of the final score.

This time round, a couple of contestants went for the shock factor when it came to attracting everyone’s attention for their commercials. Both Sammi Tan, 21, as well as Kharissa Pundarika, 24, opted for a ‘sexier’ vibe for their car dealership commercials, with cheeky innuendos aplenty.

Kharissa’s commercial, in particular, ramped up on the puns, and received a lot of support from the online panel. In fact, all nine voted for Kharissa. Sammi, on the other hand, received five votes.

However, the guest judges were not impressed, especially Mark.

“I feel that this is a competition, and this story is something I cannot accept. The first one had a bit of a double-meaning situation going on. And the second one was the same. Then, what about the third and the fourth? This is The Star Voice, do you mean this is the type of creativity that you have to use to craft commercials, in order to attract listeners?” he questioned.

“Usually, in our shows, we have innuendos too, but that doesn’t mean I like stuff like that. Sometimes, you really have to understand that you’re here for a competition, and not to create [an entertaining] show,” he later explained in a backstage interview.

Eventually, both Sammi and Kharissa were eliminated from the competition, leaving one contestant from each of the celeb mentor’s teams.

Jeff Tan, 29, from YES933 jock Zhong Kunhua's team, Jensen Wang, 26, from LOVE 972 DJ and All-Time Favourite Artiste Dennis Chew’s team, as well as Joey Tay, 27, from Capital958 sports commentator Pan Jiabiao's team made it to the finals.

Netizens did not seemed too enthused with the results.

“Kharissa was very outstanding, but why… does it seem like the online panel was not needed. The high score [from the panel] didn’t seem to affect the decisions of the three guest judges,” one netizen commented.

Another questioned: “What was the reason they eliminated Sammi? Is it ‘cos the evaluation must take into account the feelings of the three celeb mentors, and ensure that the mentors will not be faced with a situation where none of their students make it to the finale?”

“Kharissa got nine votes but was eliminated? Although [the votes from the online panel] only accounts for 10 per cent of the final score, but it shows that the listeners liked it! As a DJ, aren’t you supposed to present something that the listeners would like? The other celeb mentors also acknowledged that she’s really strong, and she’s still eliminated?” yet another netizen wrote.

Others speculated that the results might not be fair, with one netizen writing: “[Not gonna lie], I think the online judges [were] trolling this week. Probably 'cos they know their choices won’t make an impact [on] the results.”

So do you agree with the netizens? Catch the full episode below:

Photos: meWATCH