The Voice SA hit by more voting drama

M-Net has announced that it has been made aware of another attempt to get illicit votes through boosted posts on The Voice SA, after two contestants were brought back into the competition last week as their exits could have been affected by "paid-for marketing".

M-Net released a statement about the dodgy tactics ahead of the show's finale on Sunday. 

"M-Net was aware of another boosted social media post linked to The Voice SA voting this week. This paid-for marketing was visible online for approximately three hours on the morning of Tuesday 4 July and removed on M-Net’s request," said the statement. 

According to an independent analysis the "ranking of the talent and overall winner" had apparently not changed since the boosted post. 

"In each voting period, M-Net monitors the voting figures, activities and trends. Any abnormalities, such as spikes, are analysed to assess whether there is a material effect on the voting results. Appropriate actions are taken, if required. At M-Net’s request, Deloitte and Touche independently computed the vote count and ranking just prior to this week’s boosted post and confirmed that the ranking of the talent and overall winner had not changed since the boosted post occurred," it said. 

Boosted posts or paid-for marketing is against the rules of the competition. The broadcaster said it would reveal the voting figures next week for the "sake of transparency". 

M-Net said the vote count and ranking of contestants were computed by Deloitte and Touche. The top five contestants top 5 included Caroline Brussow‚ Craig Lucas‚ Fatman‚ Josh Ansley and Samantha Leonard.

Last week Luke Lovemore and PJ Pretorius were brought back onto the show.  M-Net has refused to name the guilty parties and insisted that even after an investigation there was no proof of wrongdoing.

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