The Final 1 season 2 explained

Module1:
Judges:Taufik Batisah
Ken Lim
Jaclyn Victor
Kit Chan (guest)
Corrinne May (guest)
Host:Shaun Jansen
Nadiah M. Din
Finals Venue:Capitol Theatre
Winner:Jermaine Leong
Runner Up:Charlene Su
Network:MediaCorp Channel 5

The second season of The Final 1 premiered on MediaCorp Channel 5 on 5 July 2015. It is a Singaporean reality-singing competition programme created by the director of Hype Records Ken Lim. It was won by Jermaine Leong.

Taufik Batisah and Lim returned for their second season as judges, and were joined by new judge Jaclyn Victor who replaced Kit Chan.[1] [2] Chan later returned to the show as a guest judge while Victor was away for her maternity leave. Season one's runner-up Shaun Jansen joined the show as the host.

Similar to the previous season, the winner would receive a cash prize and a management contract worth $100,000.[3]

Show changes

On 30 June 2015, it was announced via a promotional video of the show that returning judges Taufik Batisah and Ken Lim would be serving on the judging panel for the second season. Season one judge Kit Chan did not appear in the video, and therefore was ruled out of returning to the show. It was not announced whether the show would bring in a third judge to replace Chan, though the season began with only Batisah and Lim as the judges for the first two episodes. On the third episode, it was announced by Lim that the show would be bringing in a third and final judge for the season, and revealed to be Jaclyn Victor.

Vanessa Vanderstraaten and Mike Kasem did not return to host the second season. They were replaced by Shaun Jansen, who was only officially introduced by Lim and made his first appearance in the seventh episode.

In this season, a few major changes to the format of the show was made. Contrary to the previous season, the public would not be allowed to vote for their favourites and play a part in deciding the contestants to advance in the competition. The judges would instead be the ones making the decision to eliminate contestants from the competition to ensure those "getting through to the next round will be only purely on [their] vocals and talent".[4] The public would only be allowed to cast their votes when the competition is left with the final two contestants to decide on the winner.[5]

Unlike the previous season where the show was mainly taped at the MediaCorp TV Theatre, most of the competition rounds would be recorded at The Ground Theatre at *SCAPE this season. In addition, apart from the final three episodes which would be shown live, all episodes would be pre-recorded and the results shows were discontinued. Results from the previous week would only be revealed during the following week's show.

The upper age limit for the contestants is reduced to 26 in this season (down from 32 the last season), which brings the eligible age-range to 16 to 26 years old.

Online and regional auditions

The show is open to all citizens and permanent residents of Singapore aged 16 to 26 as of 1 January 2015. The online auditions began on 22 February 2015 and ended on 20 March 2015 at noon. To participate in the auditions, all contestants must register themselves at the official website of the show and submit an audition video of no more than three minutes long.[6] Over 1,000 audition clips were submitted for the competition.

Auditionees who have submitted their online video were later invited to attend a face-to-face audition session conducted by the producers. The producers auditions were conducted in all of the five Community Development Council (CDC) districts in Singapore, with the contestants attending the one in the area they reside in. The audition sessions at the Central and South West districts were also opened for walk-in auditionees who did not register themselves for the online auditions.[7]

At the end of the regional auditions, the producers shortlisted a group of potential contestants for the judges, Batisah and Lim, who then selected 12 males and 12 females to advance to the next round of the competition as the final 24.

Episode air dateAudition CDC districtDateVenueNumber of contestants advanced
5 July 2015Central5 April 2015Buona Vista Community Club6
11 April 2015AMK Hub
North WestChong Pang Community Club5
South West4 April 2015Boon Lay Community Club3
South EastChangi Simei Community Club3
North EastTampines Changkat Community Club7
Total number of contestants advanced24

Top 24 finalists

The following is a list of top 24 finalists who failed to reach the top 16 rounds:

Males
Contestant Age (on show) Occupation Audition CDC district Audition song
Brendon Chua22National servicemanNorth West"Jealous"
Iqbal23National servicemanCentral"All of Me"
James Rainier23National servicemanSouth West"Thank You"
Toh Yi Fan18StudentSouth EastNot aired
Females
Contestant Age (on show) Occupation Audition CDC district Audition song
AJ16StudentSouth West"Domino"
Vanessa Devi19StudentCentral"Love Me Harder"
Cheryl Lim23Wedding and events plannerSouth East"If I Ain't Got You"
Priscilla Tan26PerformerNorth East"When I Was Your Man"

Top 24 rounds

The top 24 finalists were separated by gender, and performed in groups of four for the first round. The groups and song choices were all chosen by the producers. The second round involved solo performances, with the judges selecting contestants they were uncertain of moving on to the next round to perform again. After this round, the judges eliminated two contestants from each of the gender groups.

The judges later announced they have to eliminate more contestants from the remaining 20, and called out the bottom 3 contestants of each gender group. The contestants who were not called out were declared safe, and each of them had to pick one contestant from the opposite gender group to advance with them to the final 16. Two contestants (one from each gender group) were saved from elimination via majority votes by their fellow contestants, and the rest were eliminated.

CategoryGroupSongSolo roundResult
OrderContestantSong
Boys1"Teenage Dream"1Leon Neoh"Jealous"Advanced
4Gareth Fernandez"I Can't Make You Love Me"Advanced
7Sam Driscoll"Blank Space"Saved (by contestants)
N/ALee Wei LunN/A (not selected to perform)Advanced
2"Walking on Sunshine"2Brendon Chua"Jealous"Eliminated (by contestants)
5James Rainier"I Can't Make You Love Me"Eliminated (by contestants)
6Isaac Ong"I Can't Make You Love Me"Advanced
N/ABernard DinataN/A (not selected to perform)Advanced
3"Bang Bang"3Marcus Ng"Jealous"Advanced
8Azhar Aziz"I'll Be There"Advanced
9Iqbal"I'll Be There"Eliminated (by judges)
N/AToh Yi FanN/A (not aired)Eliminated (by judges)
Girls1"Steal My Girl"1Jermaine Leong"Blank Space"Advanced
6Vanessa Devi"I'll Be There"Eliminated (by judges)
N/AShanice HedgerN/A (not selected to perform)Advanced
N/ARuth Mathews N/A (not selected to perform)Advanced
2"Uptown Funk"2Farhanah Khan"Blank Space"Saved (by contestants)
7Eunice Png"I Can't Make You Love Me"Advanced
8Odelle Sabrin"I Can't Make You Love Me"Advanced
N/ACheryl LimN/A (not selected to perform)Eliminated (by contestants)
3"Use Somebody"3AJ"Blank Space"Eliminated (by judges)
4Charlene Su"I Can't Make You Love Me"Advanced
5Priscilla Tan"Blank Space"Eliminated (by contestants)
N/ALou PeixinN/A (not selected to perform)Advanced
  1. The first five majority votes cast by Jermaine Leong, Ruth Mathews, Shanice Hedger, Odelle Sabrin and Eunice Png were all directed to Sam Driscoll. Lou Peixin and Charlene Su did not need to vote as there was already a majority.
  2. Priscilla Tan received two minority votes from Leon Neoh and Marcus Ng; Cheryl Lim received two minority votes from Bernard Dinata and Isaac Ong; and Farhanah Khan received three majority votes from Gareth Fernandez, Lee Wei Lun and Azhar Aziz.
  3. Toh Yi Fan, better known as Tzire, was credited on the show as "Y.Fan". The identity of "Y.Fan" was unknown at first, as he was not featured in the first episode and only appeared very briefly in wide shots during the group performance round. However, Toh confirmed his participation in the top 24 rounds, with an uploaded picture of himself with his fellow group members on Instagram.[8]

Top 16 finalists

The following is a list of top 16 finalists who failed to reach the finals:

Males
Contestant Age (on show) Occupation Audition CDC district Audition song
Sam Driscoll21National servicemanNorth East"Shake It Off"
Leon Neoh23StudentSouth East"Valerie"
Marcus Ng18StudentNorth West"You'll Be in My Heart"
Females
Contestant Age (on show) Occupation Audition CDC district Audition song
Farhanah Khan23StudentSouth West"I Will Survive"
Ruth Mathews17StudentNorth West"Lay Me Down"
Eunice Png26Singer-songwriterNorth West"Price Tag"

Top 16 rounds

The top 16 finalists were once again divided into two gender-separated groups, with the male group airing on 19 July 2015 and the female group airing on 26 July 2015. The top four males and top four females, along with the two wild card choices by the judges, advanced to the finals as the final 10.

Besides their performance, the top 16 contestants were also evaluated on their relatability to the audience. After the first six contestants of each gender group has performed, the two contestants with the highest score from the judges were sent straight through to the final 10. The competition then continued with last two contestants performing their songs, and the judges advanced two more contestants with the highest score to the finals.

Midway through the episode on 19 July 2015, Ken Lim introduced Malaysian singer and Malaysian Idol winner Jaclyn Victor as the third judge of the season.

Males – Relatability

OrderContestantSongResult
1Bernard Dinata"The Man Who Can't Be Moved"Advanced
2Gareth Fernandez"Ordinary People"Advanced
3Isaac Ong"Rude"Wild Card
4Marcus Ng"I Want You"Wild Card
5Leon Neoh"Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh)"Wild Card
6Sam Driscoll"The A Team"Wild Card
7Azhar Aziz"Stay"Advanced
8Lee Wei Lun"Yellow"Advanced

Females – Relatability

OrderContestantSongResult
1Lou Peixin"Try"Advanced
2Shanice Hedger"My Immortal"Wild Card
3Ruth Mathews"Domino"Wild Card
4Eunice Png"Poker Face"Wild Card
5Farhanah Khan"Hold On, We're Going Home"Wild Card
6Charlene Su"You Ruin Me"Advanced
7Odelle Sabrin"Gravity"Advanced
8Jermaine Leong"Lay Me Down"Advanced

Wild Card round – Marketability

Following those eight contestants advancing on 19 and 26 July 2015, the remaining eight top 16 finalists competed in the Wild Card round for the final two spots in the top 10. The contestants were put to the test of their marketability as an artiste in the entertainment industry. To showcase their ability to sing in at least two languages, all contestants performed an ethnic song of their choice. Following another performance by each Wild Card contender, the judges selected two contestants, regardless of gender, to advance to the final group of 10. The episode was aired on 2 August 2015.

OrderContestantSongResult
1Shanice Hedger"Beribu Sesalan"Advanced
2Leon Neoh"爱我别走"Eliminated
3Ruth Mathews"至少还有你"Eliminated
4Marcus Ng"专属天使"Eliminated
5Farhanah Khan"Kamu Yang Kutunggu"Eliminated
6Sam Driscoll"第一个清晨"Eliminated
7Eunice Png"如果没有你"Eliminated
8Isaac Ong"我愿意"Advanced

Finalists

The following is a list of top 10 finalists:

Contestant Age (on show) Occupation Audition CDC district Audition song
Jermaine Leong16StudentNorth East"It Will Rain"
Charlene Su20StudentNorth East"Slow Motion"
Odelle Sabrin22StudentNorth West"Titanium"
Isaac Ong26Student / Social entrepreneurNorth East"Lean on Me"
Azhar Aziz20National servicemanNorth East"Ordinary People"
Contestant Age (on show) Occupation Audition CDC district Audition song
Lee Wei Lun23StudentNorth East"P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care)"
Shanice Hedger19StudentCentral"Bang Bang"
Bernard Dinata19National servicemanCentral"Just the Way You Are"
Lou Peixin22StudentCentral"Love Never Felt So Good"
Gareth Fernandez25Student / PerformerCentral"Stay with Me"

Finals

The finals began its airing on 9 August. In this season, there are eight weeks of the finals (the top 10 and top 9 weeks were shown together in a single episode) and 10 finalists, with one finalist eliminated per week based on the judges' scores (with the exception of the top 8 week, where the judges eliminated two contestants). The results shows were discontinued, and results from the previous week would only be revealed during the following week's show. Therefore, all the contestants from the previous week would turn up for the performance show on the following week, but only the ones that are safe from elimination would get to perform.

Each of the episodes would come with a theme, which are all in relation to the contestants' development as an artiste. Hence, apart from their usual performances, the contestants were also assessed on the exercises that they were tasked to complete each week, all based on the respective weekly themes.

Shaun Jansen was officially introduced as the host of the season at the start of the top 8 performance show.

Top 10 – Identity

This week, the contestants were tasked to build on their unique identity as a performer through makeup, hair and clothing style makeovers.

OrderContestantSongResult
1Gareth Fernandez"Valerie"Eliminated
2Lou Peixin"Titanium"Safe
3Bernard Dinata"Not Over You"Safe
4Charlene Su"She Will Be Loved"Safe
5Azhar Aziz"Hold Back the River"Safe
6Odelle Sabrin"When Love Takes Over"Safe
7Lee Wei Lun"You Give Me Something"Safe Last
8Jermaine Leong"Almost Is Never Enough"Safe
9Isaac Ong"Just the Way You Are"Safe
10Shanice Hedger"Royals"Safe

Top 9 – Pop Culture

This week, the contestants collaborated with students from Republic Polytechnic to create online viral videos exploring the pop culture.

OrderContestantSongResult
1Azhar Aziz"Mirrors"4th
2Shanice Hedger"Love Me Harder"3rd
3Odelle Sabrin"Rumour Has It"2nd
4Bernard Dinata"Latch"5th
5Jermaine Leong"Love on Top"8th
6Isaac Ong"Heartbeat Song"1st
7Charlene Su"Diamonds"7th
8Lou Peixin"Dark Horse"Eliminated
9Lee Wei Lun"Wrecking Ball"6th

Top 8 – Foundation

Each contestant paid tribute to their families and friends for their support, and performed a song as a dedication to them.

OrderContestantSongResult
1Isaac Ong"What Are Words"4th
2Odelle Sabrin"Mama's Song"Bottom 3
3Shanice Hedger"Flashlight"Bottom 3
4Azhar Aziz"You Make It Real"2nd
5Bernard Dinata"Home"Bottom 3
6Lee Wei Lun"She Is Love"3rd
7Charlene Su"Dance with My Father"1st
8Jermaine Leong"You Are for Me"5th
Final showdown details
1Odelle Sabrin"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"Safe
2Bernard Dinata"What's Going On"Eliminated
3Shanice Hedger"Purple Rain"Eliminated
Owing to the judges unable to decide on the contestants to eliminate from the competition, the bottom 3 contestants were allowed to perform on the following week. Based on the final showdown performances, the judges voted to send one of the bottom 3 to the next round of the competition.
Judges' votes to save

Top 6 – Sustainability

This week, the contestants were evaluated by the guest mentors on their sustainability in the entertainment industry via a questions-and-answers session. The judges have also chosen songs based on the theme "Classics" for the contestants to perform.

OrderContestantSongResult
1Charlene Su"The Colour of My Love"2nd
2Azhar Aziz"Addicted to Love"Bottom 2
3Lee Wei Lun"High and Dry"Bottom 2
4Isaac Ong"Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"1st
5Jermaine Leong"Let's Stay Together"3rd
6Odelle Sabrin"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"4th
Final showdown details
1Azhar Aziz"Tears in Heaven"Safe
2Lee Wei Lun"Every Breath You Take"Eliminated
Owing to a tie in the judges' scores, the bottom 2 contestants were allowed to perform on the following week. Based on the final showdown performances, the judges voted to send one of the bottom 2 to the next round of the competition.
Judges' votes to save

Top 5 (first week) – Sustainability

This week, besides evaluating the contestants' sustainability in the entertainment industry, guest mentor Zul Sutan provided guidance to the contestants on their performances during the rehearsals. Once again, the contestants performed songs based on the theme "Classics". Victor did not appear on the judging panel in this episode as she was away for her maternity leave, and was replaced by former judge Kit Chan who returned to the show as a guest judge.

OrderContestantSong
1Isaac Ong"Play That Funky Music" / "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)"
2Charlene Su"Sir Duke"
3Jermaine Leong"Superstar"
4Odelle Sabrin"Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing"
5Azhar Aziz"Tears in Heaven"

Top 5 (second week) – Media

This week, the contestants were assessed on their interaction with the media via interviews with the practitioners. There were no eliminations based on the previous week's performances, as all top 5 contestants were allowed to sing their first song. The contestants were then ranked based on their performance of the first song, and the one with the lowest ranking was eliminated. The top 4 contestants also sang their second song after the announcement of the results as their victory song.

OrderContestantSongResult
1Jermaine Leong"I Will Never Let You Down"1st
2Isaac Ong"Skinny Love"2nd
3Odelle Sabrin"I Could Fall in Love"3rd
4Azhar Aziz"Demons"Eliminated
5Charlene Su"Only Love Can Hurt Like This"4th
Victory songs
1Jermaine Leong"Never Gone"1st
2Isaac Ong"Iris" / "I'll Be"2nd
3Odelle Sabrin"Try"4th
4Charlene Su"Valentine"3rd

Top 4 – Production Numbers

OrderContestantSongResult
1Jermaine Leong"Clarity"1st
2Isaac Ong"I Lived"Eliminated
3Charlene Su"One Last Time" / "Where Are Ü Now"3rd
4Odelle Sabrin"Rolling in the Deep"2nd
Victory songs
1Jermaine Leong"Wasting All These Tears"N/A
2Odelle Sabrin"Love Me like You Do"N/A
3Charlene Su"Ghost"N/A

Top 3 – Originality

OrderContestantSongResult
1Jermaine Leong"I Promise"1st
2Charlene Su"Breathe"Bottom 2
3Odelle Sabrin"Tell Me"Eliminated
4Jermaine Leong"Fly Away"1st
5Odelle Sabrin"Save Me"Eliminated
6Charlene Su"Safe in a Crazy World"Bottom 2

Top 2 – Competitor's Previous Performance / Contestant's Choice / Winner's Single

OrderContestantSongResult
1Charlene Su"Superstar"Runner-up
2Jermaine Leong"The Colour of My Love"Winner
3Charlene Su"Clown"Runner-up
4Jermaine Leong"Over the Rainbow"Winner
5Charlene Su"Shine"Runner-up
6Jermaine Leong"Shine"Winner

Elimination chart

FemalesMalesTop 24Top 16Top 10Wild CardWinner
Did Not PerformSafeSafe LastEliminated
Stage:Finals
Week:width=6.8%12/7width=6.8%19/7width=6.8%26/7width=6.8%2/8width=6.8%9/8width=6.8%16/8width=6.8%30/8width=6.8%6/9width=6.8%13/927/9width=6.8%4/10
width=5%Placewidth=13.4%ContestantResult
1Jermaine LeongTop 16Top 108th5th3rd1stwidth=6.8%1stwidth=6.8%1stWinner
2Charlene SuTop 16Top 107th1st2nd4th3rdBottom 2
3Odelle SabrinTop 16Top 102ndBottom 34th3rd2ndElim
4Isaac OngTop 16Wild CardTop 101st4th1st2ndElim
5Azhar AzizTop 16Top 104th2ndBottom 2Elim
6Lee Wei LunTop 16Top 106th3rdElim
7Shanice HedgerTop 16Wild CardTop 103rdElim
8Bernard DinataTop 16Top 105th
9Lou PeixinTop 16Top 10Elim
10Gareth FernandezTop 16Top 10Elim
Farhanah KhanTop 16Wild CardElim
Marcus NgTop 16Wild Card
Sam DriscollTop 16Wild Card
Ruth MathewsTop 16Wild Card
Leon NeohTop 16Wild Card
Eunice PngTop 16Wild Card
Brendon ChuaElim
(by contestants)
James Rainier
Cheryl Lim
Priscilla Tan
AJElim
(by judges)
Vanessa Devi
Iqbal
Toh Yi Fan
Hedger received a vote from Batisah for her final showdown performance, while Dinata received none from any of the judges. Therefore, Hedger finished in seventh place, while Dinata finished in eighth.

Guest performances

Week Performer(s) Title Performance type
Top 5 Week 1Zul Sutan, Bernard Dinata, Shanice Hedger & Lou Peixin "Change the World" / "Waiting on the World to Change" live
Top 2Jaclyn Victor & The Final 1 Top 9 Girls "I'm Every Woman" live
Taufik Batisah & The Final 1 Top 9 Boys "Superstition" live
Azhar Aziz, Bernard Dinata, Lee Wei Lun & Leon Neoh "Wake Me Up" live
Shanice Hedger, Farhanah Khan, Lou Peixin & Odelle Sabrin "Black Magic" live
Farisha Ishak, Jermaine Leong & Charlene Su "Don't Be So Hard on Yourself" live
Jessica Sanchez & Charlene Su "Dance with My Father" live
Jessica Sanchez & Jermaine Leong "Clarity" live
Jessica Sanchez "I Have Nothing" / "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" live
Jermaine Leong & Charlene Su "Stay with Me" live
Jermaine Leong "Shine" live

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Jermaine Leong wins Final 1 competition . 2023-09-25 . TODAY . en.
  2. News: 2015-10-05 . Jermaine Leong, 16, wins singing contest The Final 1 . en . The Straits Times . 2023-09-25 . 0585-3923.
  3. Web site: Is this The Final 1 contestant Rui En's doppelganger?. TODAYonline.
  4. Web site: Singing Contest The Final 1 Returns But With No Public Voting Until Finals. 6 March 2015.
  5. Web site: Is this The Final 1 contestant Rui En's doppelganger?. TODAYonline.
  6. http://www2.toggle.sg/final1/The-Final-1-Terms-and-Conditions.pdf
  7. Web site: Mediacorp Channel 5. www.facebook.com.
  8. Web site: Instagram .