Since launching in Australia, The Voice has captured the imagination of the general public and even opened up a range of betting opportunities for punters through sites such as casinoshortlist.org – but some people wonder if the latest finale was rigged?

Although the early stages of the singing competition are based on the contestant’s voice alone, the decisions in later rounds are undoubtedly influenced by the singer’s overall package. Indeed, once the singers have been whittled down by the judges it’s time for the public to vote via one of three methods: phone, text and iTunes downloads.

Following the final show of the season, finalist Johnny Rollins managed to reach position #38 on the official ARIA Singles chart, but, ultimately, went on to finish third behind Jackson Thomas and Nissen who both failed to chart.

Adding further fuel to the speculation was the revelation that Nissen had continuously ranked lower than the early favourite, Sabrina Batshon, in the betting.

However, in spite of this, Nissen was eventually saved by a public vote ahead of Batshon, Holly Tapp and Kat Jade as part of Vodafone’s Home Coach app. Moreover, Batshon apparently outshone all of her rivals on The Voice Australia when it came to YouTube views over the course of the season; something which has raised more questions about how she was voted off the show before the finale. 

The Voice Australia’s YouTube Channel: Cumulative views for the 2014 Contestants:

1. Sabrina Batshon: 2,037,041 views
2. Elly Oh:1,916,175
3. C Major: 1,374,838
4. Robbie Balmer: 1,203,192
5. Kat Jade: 1,153,034
6. Anja Nissen: 1,051,354
7. Holly Tapp: 985,188
8. ZK: 970,333
9. Johnny Rollins: 964,493
10. Mat Verevis: 949,419
11. Jackson Thomas: 760,391
12. Isaac McGovern: 742,063
13. Frank Lakoudis: 726,675
14. Gabriel & Cecilia: 634,820
15. John Lingard: 544,096
16. Talia Gouge: 386,588

In reality it’s impossible to draw any conclusions from this evidence, other than Nissen wasn’t a hit when it came to views and downloads. Because The Voice Australia doesn’t publish its call and text data it isn’t clear how many votes the eventual winner actually received.

However, what this does suggest is one of two things: either The Voice Australia must publish all of its voting data (something which won’t ever happen) to prevent this type of speculation. Or the show needs to scrap call and text voting in favour of the more transparent method such downloads.

Regardless of the speculation, there’s no doubt that Anja Nissen has a bright music career ahead of her. While she may not have been the best singer on the show, she certainly has the look of a pop star and will likely do well on both the national and international scene.

Image credit: Getty