The Voice 2018: Sam Perry says drama with Boy George was a beat-up

THE Voice winner Sam Perry has confirmed that his much-hyped clash with Boy George was nothing more than a reality TV beat-up.

In the first episode the 28-year-old vocal loop artist from Western Australia appeared in, Boy George ignited a debate about whether or not he should be allowed in the competition.

“This is called The Voice, it’s not called The Technology,” the Culture Club singer said.

“This is about singing. It [Sam’s audition] connected with us because we’re musicians but not necessarily with the audience. You don’t break hearts with machines.”

Boy George again questioned Perry’s place in the competition a few weeks later when he said on camera, “this is called The Voice and you’re not really a singer”.

Reality TV shows need talking points and storylines and The Voice producers made a conscious decision to build up the ‘drama’ between Boy George and Sam Perry and make it a focal point of the show, regularly mentioning it in promos throughout the season.

But speaking to news.com.au the morning after his win, Perry suggested the so-called ‘drama’ was manufactured for TV.

“I’d only know about the controversy if I turned on the TV or read the papers,” he said.

“It’s entirely different behind the scenes. George and I are actually really good friends. He’s great, he’s a good dude.”

Some viewers fell for the concocted drama and the issue of whether or not Perry should be allowed on The Voice proved to be a hot topic on social media during the season.

Clearly those who felt he didn’t belong were in the minority though and the winner of The Voice was determined by audience votes.

“I understand that people want to hear ballads and voices as they are but … at the end of the day there was still three people doing ballads and just one person doing something different so the odds were still stacked against me,” Perry told news.com.au.

“There’s been controversy but there was an overwhelming number of votes for me [in the finale] and I love that Australia’s got behind something different.”

Perry’s now hoping that Australia will also get behind his winner’s single, Trust Myself, which is out now.

“I was part of the writing process which isn’t a normal thing for The Voicecontestants,” he said. “Usually they have a song professionally written for them but I’ve been here to be different. I am a musician and I wanted to be part of that process.”

As winner of The Voice, Perry now has a recording contract with Universal Music Australia and $100,000 in prizemoney. And he’s already spent a small amount of his winnings on a present for his coach, Kelly Rowland.

“I got her a little photo of her and I when we were both smiling,” he said.

“I always get in trouble because I never smile in front of the cameras and there’s a photo of both of us just beaming … they captured a beautiful moment so I framed it for her. I mean, what do you get for a beautiful lady who has everything, so I wanted to give her a memory.”