The Voice: favourites axed

 
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28 May 2012
The Weekender

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The two contestants tipped to win The Voice have been eliminated just a week before the final.

Ruth Brown and Jaz Ellington missed out on a place in Saturday's show after failing to win enough votes from the public.

Viewers last night found out that Tyler James, Vince Kidd, Leanne Mitchell and Bo Bruce had all made it through to the final. The other two acts eliminated were Becky Hill and Max Milner.

Ruth Brown, who was the bookmakers' favourite to win the competition, failed to attract enough votes after delivering an emotional version of Christina Aguilera's ballad The Voice Within.

Brown, who first auditioned for the show just two days before her father's funeral, fought back tears during her performance.

She said afterwards: "I think if it wasn't for The Voice then I don't know where I'd be because I miss my dad."

O'Donoghue commented: "I lost my dad as well and I know what it's like to stand there and sing about that and have that in your heart.

"That was an amazing performance. You found the voice within."

Will.i.am told her: "I think your dad is proud of you", while Jessie J added: "There's moments when your voice literally fills up every single bit of the air."

Bo Bruce was quickly installed as the new favourite to win the show, with Coral offering odds of 6/4.

Vince Kidd and Tyler James are joint second favourites at 11/4, while Leanne Mitchell is considered to be the outsider at 5/1.

Saturday's semi-final, which included an appearance by Cheryl Cole, was watched by the lowest audience of the series.

The show drew just 4.5 million viewers on average. The programme is now pulling in less than half the audience it attracted at its height during the early stages of the contest. At one stage in April the show had 10.7 million.

ITV1's coverage of England's 1-0 victory over Norway in the Euro 2012 warm-up pulled in 4.7 million between 7pm and 10pm.

The warm weather is thought to be partly to blame for the lower audience as viewers take advantage of the sunshine.

Last night's show featured an appearance by Kylie Minogue, who sang new release Timebomb.

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