Sunday, 09 December 2012: Dancing sensation Amarachi Uyanne has emerged the winner of the N10 million grand prize of the Nigeria’s Got Talent Season One reality show sponsored by leading telecoms operator, Airtel Nigeria. She won through a public voting process independently managed by Forbes Limited.
Amarachi, who was unveiled at the weekend at the grand finale of the reality show in Lagos, shrugged off a fierce challenge from top contender, Violinist Godwin Ogechukwu and eight other finalists to go home with the winner-takes-it-all prize.
The eight years-old primary five pupil from Igbodo in Delta State is now the youngest non-inheritor millionaire in Nigeria having broken the previous record set by Solomon Ebuka Nwanke Ubani who became a millionaire at age 20.
Amarachi emerged from a cast of ten finalists, reduced to six, then four and finally three based on votes cast by viewers. Voting ended on Friday, December 7, 2012.
Rapper Chuka, DJ Nath, the Expendables and Dr. Bariyu, a ventriloquist and puppeteer became the first casualties in what would be the beginning of a series of evictions.
Impulse, the acapella group from Port Harcourt, dancer extraordinaire, Boniface Ukeme and Toke saw their hope of winning the coveted prize dashed after they formed the successive sets of evictees.
The palpable tension that had built up over the identity of the eventual winner finally gave way to a rapturous ovation, dancing and celebration when NGT presenter, Andre Blaize announced Amarachi the winner.
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Rajan Swaroop ably assisted by the CEO of Rapid Blue Format and Optima Media Group, Mr. Rotimi Pedro presented the winning cheque of N10million to Amarachi, with her mother in tow.
Rajan Swaroop said at the event that Airtel Nigeria is committed to creating platforms that would help to discover and nurture talented Nigerians to stardom just as he expressed satisfaction over the organisation of the NGT.
According to Swaroop,”In the last two years of operation in Nigeria, Airtel has shown tremendous commitment to building stronger ties between people and their dreams, and strong foundations for a healthy and fulfilling future for both the individual and country. The NGT is one of the various platforms on which we are doing this. Airtel believes that it is not just enough to know that there are talents, but that they must be searched for, discovered and nurtured accordingly. Airtel believes in helping talented individuals and groups live their dreams.”
An elated Amarachi, who spoke shortly after receiving her cheque, said she would use part of the money to support orphans and to pursue her ambition of becoming a medical doctor.
Her words, “I am happy that I won. At first I was afraid and thought I would lose, but thank God I won in the end. I want to help orphans with the money, and also for the education of my two siblings as well as mine.”
Over ten thousand acts cutting across different genres of entertainment participated in the just concluded Nigeria’s Got Talent, season one. Nigeria is the 42nd country in the Got Talent franchise, according to Optima Media Group CEO Femi Pedro.
The Season One of the Airtel sponsored ‘’Got Talent’’ reality TV show commenced on 16 September, with nation-wide auditions in selected cities which included Abuja, Port- Harcourt, Warri, Calabar, Enugu, Benin, Ibadan and Lagos.
The semi-finals lasted from October 21 to December 2, 2012.
