Spooky but talented Indonesian illusionist The Sacred Riana has been announced as the winner of “Asia’s Got Talent Season 2” last night!
The creepy contestant whose real name is Marie Antoinette Riana Graharani, has scared her way into the hearts of the fans and judges when her spooky persona and magic tricks during the auditions, semi-finals and grand finals which collectively achieved over 70 million views on Facebook and YouTube, making her a global sensation.
After 10 riveting weeks and hundreds of acts from 15 countries, The Sacred Riana rallied the most votes gets to take home the grand prize of USD100,000, courtesy of presenting sponsor, Traveloka.
On her last week during the grand final show, she went up against runner-up DM-X Comvalenos from the Philippines, Mongolian digital dance/artist Canion Shijirbat, Malaysia-based illusionist Sobhi Shaker, Indonesian harpist and singer Angela July, ADEM Dance Crew from Kyrgyzstan, ukulele child prodigy Feng E from Taiwan, beatboxer Neil Rey Gracia Llanes and Urban Crew both from the Philippines.
“The viewer response to Asia’s Got Talent Season 2 has been truly overwhelming on both pay-TV and social platforms and we are thrilled to produce such a well-loved series for AXN audiences across the region,” said Virginia Lim, Senior Vice President and Head of Content, Production and Marketing, Sony Pictures Television Networks, Asia.
“I extend my warmest congratulations to The Sacred Riana and to all the other grand finalists who made it so far. Asia’s Got Talent is the world’s biggest talent show and we hope that the series inspires the next generation of Asia’s stars to pursue their dreams.”
An illusionist of very few words, The Sacred Riana does not break character even once, and she always seems to pick on judge Anggun in each of her acts, instead of the show's two other judges Jay Park and David Foster.
But during the results show, Riana picked Jay Park to join her performance, which made Anggun super relieved, commenting, “You’re my girl. Thanks for not targeting me this time.”
Asia’s Got Talent is the 67th adaptation of the Guinness-World-Record-breaking hit “Got Talent” format, which was created by Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment and is co-produced by FremantleMedia.
The “Got Talent” format is officially the most successful reality TV format in history and currently airs in 186 countries.