Two Filipinos win ‘Voice of McDonald’s 2′ tilt

May 04

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ABS-CBN News

So who says working at McDonald’s is all about flipping burger patties and serving French fries?

Certainly not Filipino Mary Margaret Yu of Davao City and Fil-Canadian Candido Revilles, two McDonald’s employees who won in the second ‘Voice of McDonald’s’ singing competition, an “American Idol”-inspired extravaganza that was opened by the multinational fastfood company to its 1.6 million employees in 118 countries worldwide.

They may not have won the grand prize–that honor went to Natercia Pintor, a McDonald’s employee from Portugal–but their victories were impressive enough to win the hearts of Filipinos worldwide.

The Filipinos’ victory was announced in a press release from McDonalds posted at the PR Newswire website (http://media.netpr.pl).

Yu won second place, bagging the $10,000 cash prize while third placer Revilles pocketted $5,000. It was a well-deserved triumph for all three winners, who each had to compete against nearly 3,000 rivals from 53,000 countries.

14 ‘Voice of McDonald’s’ finalists earlier went on an all-expense paid trip to Orlando, Florida in the United States for a week of preparation, coaching and competition. On Monday, April 14, the finalists were trimmed down to the final three-way showdown between Pintor, Yu and Revilles.

Pintor wowed the jurors, along with 13,000 people in the audience with her rousing rendition of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” from the Broadway musical “Dreamgirls”.

She received the grand prize of $25,000 in cash as well as a trip for two to the “American Idol” Season 7 finale in Los Angeles next month. Then, in a surprise announcement, Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer Rodney “Darkchld” Jerkins said that Pinor would get the chance to record a demo tape in his Los Angeles music studio at Interscope Records.

“I have such strong emotions right now — so grateful to McDonald’s, so proud to represent Portugal, and very happy,” said Pintor. “This is a dream come true.”

Pintor, Yu and Revilles sang before an audience of McDonald’s restaurant owners from around the world. The panel of celebrity judges included multi-platinum and Grammy Award-winning artist and songwriter Ne-Yo; Jody Gerson, co-president, Sony/ATV Music Publishing; and Ken Hertz, senior partner, Goldring, Hertz and Lichtenstein, LLP.

“I was blown away by the talent. They brought the house down,” said Ne-Yo. “It was really, really difficult to chose the winner. I applaud McDonald’s for doing this,” said Ne-Yo.

According to the official McDonald’s website, http://www.mcdonalds.com, it is the leading global foodservice retailer with more than 30,000 local restaurants in more than 100 countries. More than 75% of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by franchisees and affiliates.

For more information on Pintor, Yu and Revilles, as well as the other contestants, go to https://mcdonalds.com/usa/voice.html

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