The Voice Australia's star tonight was the dad who didn’t get a single chair turn

"I just wanted to show my kids to never give up, to keep having a crack," he told the coaches before they delivered the biggest plot twist in the history of plot twists. 

We all know the formula for shows like The Voice: twists manufactured by producers, lots of filler content, super awesome singers.

But the first episode of season 12 was totally different. There were amazing singers, but the twist brought us to tears because it was the cutest story of a dad and daughter ever. 

The fan favourite, Chris Watson a 53-year-old postie from country Victoria, didn’t even get a single chair turn.

His true-to-80s-original “I Wish That I Had Jesse’s Girl” was great, but according to Guy didn’t have the originality the coaches were looking for.

But what captured our hearts was that he was doing it all for his daughter Shanae, who is a singer too, and who’d lost confidence recently.

What did Chris do when he learned Shanae was thinking about giving up on her dream?

He dusted off his microphone, rehearsed and got up on stage on national TV amid all the young whipper snappers and sang an 80s song of his youth to show Shanae that it’s never too late.

“I just wanted to show my kids to never give up, to keep having a crack,” he explained to the coaches.

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Chris Watson sang I Wish That I Had Jesse's Girl. Photo: Seven

Dark horse gets daughter spot on The Voice

When the coaches found out Shanae was a singer, it was obvious, they had to hear her. Guy asked if she'd consider auditioning. 

“After seeing dad, I would give it a crack,” Shanae agreed sheepishly.

“We can’t do it now because we’re not supposed to see you,” said Guy, then asked host Sonya Kruger to check upstairs to see if Shanae could come back.

And of course they said yes, and of course they didn’t make us wait too long to see her perform.

“It could be a great story and it’s all because you were brave enough to take a crack,” Guy said.

We sat through a few performances, including a lovely young man who had a little cry thinking about how his parents sacrificed for him and then sang the most unexpected, most beautiful opera aria from The Barber of Seville. Then Shanae was back.

YESSSS!

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His family looked on proudly. Photo: Seven

Shanae Watson delivers on The Voice Australia

It could have been a really sad end if Shanae couldn’t deliver. She picked "Chandelier" by SIA which if you’ve ever tried to belt it along to the radio in the car, you’ll know is a very difficult song to sing.

But Shanae brought that chorus. She was amazing.

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Dad was in tears as his daughter sang. Photo: Seven

The camera panned to dad and he was in tears. It was a beautiful moment.

“When you said she was good, that was an understatement,” Guy said.

“My gosh. That was worth doing. To be honest, you sang the verse great, I know with that song, it’s about the chorus. One of the hardest choruses to sing. When you nailed that, I had to slam that button.

“See what happens when you go out on a limb as a father. See what happens when you take a leap of faith. Did you think you weren’t good enough?”

Shanae nodded.

“She’s a ripper,” dad said.

Then it came time to pick her coach, and although Shanae seemed to be thinking about it, Chris was yelling from the sidelines, “You know!”

“I think I’m going to go with Guy,” she said. And the episode went down as the best piece of genuine reality television we’ve ever seen.

Originally published as The Voice Australia's star tonight was the dad who didn’t get a single chair turn