Congratulations Andrew de Silva – Winner of #AGT 2012

Congratulations to former CDB member Andrew De Silva, last night crowned the winner of season six of Australia’s Got Talent He defeated music group The Wolfe Brothers, with both musical acts making it through from the second grand final the week before and remaining as the final two entrants in the series. Andrew takes home the winner’s cheque for $250,000.

The show opened with a spectacular combined performance from all eight finalist acts, as well as the inclusion of some “fan favourites” from the series. Former acts including 2011 finalist (& 2012 Dancing With The Stars winner) Johnny Ruffo performed to entertain the audience, and this season’s Mark Lowndes, Owen Campbell, Andrew De Silva and Joe Moore collaborated to pay tribute to their favourite artists.

After illness forced Andrew to leave chart-topping 90’s R&B group CDB in the 90’s, AGT was the singer/songwriter’s last chance to try and resurrect his music dreams and the opportunity to share his catalogue of original songs with the nation. Last night he proved victorious with a symbolic welcome back to the industry, topping the public vote and triumphing over Tasmanian country band, The Wolfe Brothers.

AGT struggled to gain audience after a strong couple of first episodes this season. It’s Wednesday night timeslot saw it beaten regularly by The Block and then MasterChef Australia, and it performed poorly against the three NRL State Of Origin games through May/June. While the last couple of episodes did see a lift in ratings (including a performance from Justin Bieber last week) that rise wasn’t significant enough to see the series win it’s timeslot/the night.

The biggest and most obvious comparison was drawn of AGT against The Voice Australia, with the former including radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands and his best mate Brian McFadden as judges and struggling to display credibility against the latter’s line up (Seal, Delta Goodrem (Brian’s ex-girlfriend), Keith Urban & Joel Madden), and the overwhelming positivity of the Ch9 series. If the series continues in 2013, it is expected to undergo a complete overhaul, starting with the recasting of the judging panel.