Despite the disappointment of having a position in the finals of the Ultimate Soca Champion Competition snatched from her grasp, soca artiste Jardine "Jadel" Le Gere is grateful her five new releases are in rotation on the airwaves and in fetes.
Jadel told WMN she was on her way to winning the wildcard spot in the Ultimate Soca Champion category, in which people had to vote for their choice to perform at the finals on February 20, at the Queen's Park Savannah.
To vote, people had to visit and follow the competition’s various social media pages, tag three other people to do the same, as well as like, share the profile of one of the nine eligible artistes and comment on why the person deserved a spot in the finals.
She said she had over 500 comments and was “in front by a mile.” Then, in a matter of five minutes, the person in last place jumped to second place. The supporters noticed and alerted the organisers to the suspicious activity.
On February 13 the competition organisers announced they would “nullify the wildcard vote” and give the spots to the highest-scoring reserve contestants from each of the two categories of the semifinals.
“Even with the fake likes, I won, because you can’t fake the comments. Everybody thought I was coming out victorious because I had the most engagement, but they came to me and told me I’m no longer the winner because there is no longer a wildcard competition.
“What is shady is, if it is you nullify a competition, how could there be a winner? But there was artwork on their social media announcing the reserve as the wildcard winner! When I called and told them I would fight it, they took down the artwork.”
She also said a reserve was someone who would fill a place if a finalist could not perform for some reason, so it made no sense to place them in the finals. If the wildcard competition was cancelled, no one should have been added to the finalists.
“My fans and supporters are upset because so much of their precious time was wasted. It’s wasn’t simply clicking one thing to place a vote. This was hard work.”
Her fans were not the only ones who were upset by the organisers’ decision. On social media, angry supporters accused the organisers of orchestrating the situation to bring mileage to the competition’s social media pages. They said it was a waste of energy and resources as there was a long list of criteria for voting, and those who were caught cheating should have been disqualified instead of punishing those with legitimate votes.
Despite the drama, Jadel said she is excited for the Carnival season as she has five songs, four of which she wrote or co-wrote.
[caption id="attachment_1140460" align="alignnone" width="819"] Soca artiste Jardine "Jadel" Le Gere says she is trying to strike a balance between talent and sex appeal. -[/caption]
Jam Somebody is her biggest release this year. She said it encompassed the idea of Carnival.
“Carnival is about freedom. There’s no restrictions at any time, no limitations. Anybody could get a wine or a jam. Anybody could
