The Voice crowned Jermaine Paul the champion of its second season during Tuesday night's live broadcast of the NBC reality singing competition's finale.
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"I just want to say thank you to everybody that voted for me. All the years that I put in -- my wife, my children, DJ Walking, my father, my mother, my mother-in-law, I just want to say thank you to everybody who supported me from day one. God bless yall man. Nobody but Jesus, man, nobody!" a teary-eyed Paul exclaimed after The Voice host Carson Daly had announced his victory.
Shortly before Daly revealed his fate, Paul said winning the competition would mean the world to him.
In addition to claiming the title of "The Voice," Paul walked away with a recording contract with Universal Republic Records.
Juliet Simms, a singer from Tampa, FL, finished as the runner-up.
"Honestly, you spend so much time practicing your songs for the show, you don't really spend much time practicing what you would say when you get here. The road -- all the sacrifices -- everything that my family and my loved ones have sacrificed for me to do this. I mean, this is my childhood dream and I'm standing here right now," said Simms in disbelief of her success on The Voice prior to learning the results.
Although Daly did not disclose the exact results of the home viewer votes, he did reveal Paul edged Simms by only four percentage points in the voting.
Paul also beat out Tony Lucca, a singer from Waterford, MI, and Chris Mann, a singer from Wichita, KS.
"It feels like all the work I've done up to this point wasn't in vain, and my presence here was warranted. I'm beyond grateful to every piece of this puzzle," Lucca said of his experience on the show.
Lucca finished in third place, while Mann placed fourth. Daly announced only a quarter of one percentage point separated the two men.
"I want to take this time to thank Cee Lo Green for being badass. I just really appreciate knowing you. Thank you America. I never thought I would actually get here, so thank you for helping me get here," Mann said following his fourth-place announcement. "I feel like I kind of grew into my own in front of everyone's eyes... Being yourself for the first time is the only way to get here and I'm thankful for that."
The Voice's second season had featured each of The Voice's four celebrity coaches selecting a team of contestants and mentoring them until only a single contestant remained on each team, after which the four remaining singers competed head-to-head in the finale.
Paul was mentored by Blake Shelton, Adam Levine worked with Lucca, Christina Aguilera took Mann under her wing, and Simms was paired up with Cee Lo Green.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
