Kevin Simm wins fifth series of The Voice UK

BBC - The Voice Kevin Simm

Former Liberty X singer Kevin Simm has been crowned the winner of The Voice UK.

Simm, 35, had been favourite to win the fifth series after his powerful Blind Audition which has been viewed nearly 4 million times online.

“I can’t believe it! I’m so grateful. I couldn’t have dreamed this would happen.” – Kevin Simm speaking after winning The Voice UK

Simm wowed all four coaches by belting out Sia’s smash hit ‘Chandelier’ and initially chose new recruit Paloma Faith as his coach before he was stolen by Ricky Wilson during the Battle Rounds.

His debut solo single, ‘All You Good Friends’, is available for immediate download and streaming. It is the first time in the Voice UK history that the winner’s single has been released straight after the winning performance.

Runner up, Jolan, also a member of Team Ricky, said his time on the show has been “amazing” with Ricky adding that he has “something in place” for him. Lydia Lucy, coached by will.i.am, and Cody Frost, coached by Boy George, were eliminated during Saturday’s final show.

Overnight ratings data has shown that the two-hour final was watched by an average of 4.5m viewers peaking at 6.1m as the winner was announced. It was beaten by Britain’s Got Talent over on ITV which attracted an average of 9.03m (incl. +1) for the first instalment of its tenth series.

The Voice UK moves to ITV in 2017 after its producers signed a multi-million pound deal with the network including production of a kids version which has been successful in some countries across the globe. It is unclear whether ITV will replicate the beeb’s transmission pattern for the main series.

The Voice UK