From left, Goh, Lee and Johnnie kissing their trophies after the prize presentation.
KOTA KINABALU: After nine months and 14 rounds of intense challenges, 46-year-old Sabahan Dennis Lee Yun Fah won the Astro Classic Golden Melody (CGM) Singing Competition 2014.
Lee won the hearts of the judges and audience with a soulful rendition entitled ‘Wo Hen Chou, Ke Shi Wo Hen Wen Rou’, which translated to ‘I am Ugly, but I am Gentle’, in the last round of challenge at the grand final.
Lee, who is married and works as a beauty spa manager, received RM77,205 worth of prizes in total, including RM30,000 cash.
The second and third places went to Johnnie Lee Cheong Fatt, 54, from Malacca, and Goh Yit Ling, 48, from Johor Bahru respectively. All top three winners were the overwhelming favourites of the competition.
Meanwhile, Carmen Cheng, 46, from Seremban was the third runner-up.
Johnnie also won the Best Energetic Award while Ong See Liang, 49, from Tanjung Malim won the Best Showmanship Award and Chong Wah Kee, 50, from Bahau received the People’s Choice Award.
The awards were presented by Vice President of Astro’s Chinese Customer Business Choo Chi Han and representative from Biogrow Oat BG22 Ong Lam Huat.
The grand finals of the highly anticipated, most-watched CGM Singing Competition was held at Putra Indoor Stadium, Bukit Jalil on Saturday where the top ten finalists sang their hearts out in three rounds of challenges during the three-hour show.
The other four finalists were Lee Nang Chee (46, Seremban), Sharon Bong (46, Kuching), Bess Cheong (53, Kampar) and Jack Lee Siew Choy (54, Butterworth).
The competition kicked off with five rounds of one-on-one knockout battles, where the winners from each knockout challenge advanced to the second round.
However, two of the best singers from the losing side, remained in the competition and joined the five successful challengers to advance to the next stage.
Then, each remaining contestant belted out a duet featuring a guest singer.
Three finalists with the highest scores in total stayed on to out-sing each other with a song of their choice in the ultimate challenge – only one would take the coveted champion title home.
Collective prizes worth more than RM225,000 were given away to finalists of the competition. In addition to the champion and three runners-up, subsidiary prizes were presented to winners of the Most Energetic Award, Best Showmanship Award as well as the People’s Choice Award voted by netizens and home viewers.
The CGM Grand Finals was judged by a panel of notable personalities in the music industry, namely Chng Shyue Chung, Law Sok Noy, Wong Fong Tee, Kwok Voon Voon and Chang Sang Teck.
Pairing off with the prominent host Gan Jiang Han, the favourite duo, TP Lim and Kwok Yen Yen, returned to host the CGM Grand Finals in conjunction with Astro Ben Di Quan’s 10th anniversary celebration. To top it off, an impressive line-up of past years’ winners also made a comeback to grace the stage with their long-missed renditions in groups.
The CGM Red Carpet and Grand Finals will be telecasted LIVE on Astro AEC (Ch.301), Astro AEC HD (Ch.306) and Astro on the Go. The audience may catch replays of the Grand Finals at 10am on December 13.