Reports in an Afrikaans tabloid of telephonic threats made to Idols winner Sasha-Lee Davids and her family have been dismissed as “scandalous”.

The paper suggested Davids and her family were living in fear of their lives after disturbing phone calls made to her home in Atlantis, near Cape Town, since Friday’s announcement by M-Net, the producers of the reality show, that she was not the outright winner.

The announcement followed the controversy over late cellphone votes botched in the outcome of the talent show.

Davids was crowned the winner, but auditors on Friday found that runner-up Jason Hartman, of KwaZulu-Natal, had received 200 000 more votes.

Hartman received 1,3 million votes, compared with Davids’s 1,1 million. M-Net then decided to crown both Davids and Hartman as winners of this year’s show.

Mynie Grové, music producer and spokesperson for the Davids family, on Monday said the family had received no threats on their lives other than “a few ugly phone calls” from Hartman fans.

“It (the tabloid article) is scandalous. No one’s in any danger and the calls were not life-threatening,” Grové said.

She said the family were entitled to their privacy and the phone calls bordered on harassment.

Fremantle, the international company owning the rights to Idols, has given its full support to M-Net for declaring both Sasha-Lee Davids and Jason Hartman as the winners of this year’s season.

Fremantle admitted from Britain that this was the biggest Idols scandal yet. There had in the past been some problems with the SMS system in Britain and France, but it had never happened before that the final result was affected.

Theo Erasmus, the head of entertainment at M-Net, said their decision to announce Jason as an additional winner, even though he had beaten Sasha-Lee by more than 200 000 votes, was in the interest of fairness towards Sasha-Lee.

FINALLY Mara, my absolute favourite [like here] had something good / intellectual to say when she called for Sasha-Lee Davids to do the honourable thing and hand the title over to Jason Hartman. Nice one my baayybeeeee.

She said:

“It wasn’t Sasha-Lee’s fault, but she mustn’t be selfish now. Jason is the winner and finish.”

Mara said she could understand that Sasha-Lee was terribly traumatised by hearing she was the winner and being told a week later that she had not really won.

Randall Abrahams disagreed and said Sasha-Lee shouldn’t be punished for something that wasn’t her fault.

Gareth Cliff said the whole affair was “completely unacceptable and a huge embarrassment”, blaming cellphone networks.

Dave Thompson, of course, has already fucked off. [here]

This just in folks, there is a mess up on the Idols vote count apparently. So is Sasha-Lee really the winner?

Let me guess theyre gonna cop out and declare them JOINT WINNERS.

This from the Mnet website.

The winner is determined by public vote alone based on the number of votes received for each of the two finalists. An unprecedented number of votes were received for the two finalists, Sasha Lee Davids and Jason Hartman.

M-Net’s post-show analysis revealed however, that a significant number of the SMS votes were received after the cut-off time of 18:05 on Sunday evening, due to possible external system latency.

Theo Erasmus, Channel Director: General Entertainment of M-Net SA, says: “The moment we were alerted to possible system problems, we contacted the mobile network operators to request additional data, which could be verified by independent auditors. M-Net hopes to complete this audit in the shortest time possible. It is crucial to M-Net that our viewers can be assured that every vote counts because accuracy is paramount in a show of this nature.”

The investigation will determine whether these SMS votes were sent by members of the public before the final cut-off time of 18:05 on Sunday evening, thus making them legitimate.

The three mobile network operators and M-Net’s service provider, are all co-operating with M-Net to ensure a speedy outcome.

The two finalists, Sasha Lee and Jason, have been made aware of this investigation and will receive all the necessary support they require during this process. They have both been advised that the results may change.

As soon as the investigation is complete, the results will be made known to the public.

Well Maybe Jason Hartman did win, I referred to this in this post [here]

Role on the results. Maybe Dave had the right idea [here]

Wouldn’t want to be in Atlantis if the result changes! Read what Sasha-Lee and Jason had to say here.

Here it is:

“Dear Editor,

I have followed M-Net Idols since its inception. I have spotted great talent and I always tried to vote for these youngsters by what they do best on stage. One of the judges once said that the voting process is unjust and unfair for those who lack resources (DStv and airtime).

The past weekend proved again that Idols was just another immoral show with a focus to make lots of money rather than spotting the finest talent.

Why can’t they involve the judges to the end? Do they understand the demographics of this country? If Idols really is for everyone, why can’t they put fair mechanisms in place that would allow everyone to participate?

Idols is nothing but a scam that will continue to racially divide South Africa. I watched with sadness when one of the top talented girls, Thembi Nkosi, was eliminated from the show because of “insufficient votes” by the public.

The judges and the public always endorsed Thembi and likened her to great superstars. It is very clear from my analysis that Thembi did not make it because of a lack of resources by her followers.

Can’t Idols change this or is it bad for their business? Please take no offence to my letter as none is given. The fact will remain that Thembi was the top talent in 2009 Idols.

I hope music producers spotted this youngster, and also others left who will be eliminated the same way.

I have officially stopped watching as they no longer stand for what I believe in – fairness.

Mzi”

Well thats pretty interesting. I was also watching telly that night but I was barely paying any notice. I decided to scroll through the comments to this post and it was some interesting reading.

Here are a few excerpts:

Somebody must get to the bottom of the allegation, maybe the public are been ripped off as they make huge amounts of cash out of this program. Zuma is serious about fraud,could he look into it. – anon

Like WTF has this got to do with ZUMA? Take a cold shower bru. Here’s some Shower Gel.

Carte Blanche also had a add stating they will be chatting to SA new Idols, The Queen straight of the Idols floor and this add was aired 20min before the winner was announced? Surely someone should follow up on this. – Jacques du Toit

So a bit of useful advice came from the cool head in the group.

Now that’s why you need a PVR – Drukkie

Love the name bru. So he / she (hope she ain’t a she called DRUKKIE!!!??) was backed up by these dudes.

i recorded Glitterati on KykNet and what the user says is true, so i dare Mnet to disprove this!! – hoax

Yes I also heard at 18.38 Derek Watts stating that Sasha WOn.. and guess what? I recorded the whole idols, so I have the proof to back it up. ALready on Mnet’s Case about this – pv

This is hot on the heels of Dave Thompson quitting the show and the country in his usual sullen style. He basically fucked off and wont talk to anyone. Wise fella. Even Randall Abrahams his friend of 16 years wasn’t informed.

Real tight there.

Oh and this is what Mara Louw had to say about him leaving.

“If we do have another Idols and I’m asked to judge , I will miss him. But if he is unsuccessful in Australia, we might see him back.”

Wish the DUDE luck not failure you chop.

Take nothing away from Sasha-Lee Davids, but what a shamatuer operation by Mnet, shame on you.

Well the best of the bunch in my opinion was Jason, to me he was the most consistent and someone who could maybe have a career in the industry. Here’s to another Idols wash out, pity. Well done Sasha-Lee though, representing Cape Town.

Thank God, no more Mara for a year!