And then there was one. Years of endless practice and a dedication to his craft certainly paid off for deaf contender Darren Rajbal when he was declared South Africa's ultimate entertainer in last night's concluding instalment of SA's Got Talent.
The audience looked on in disbelieving wonder as Rajbal's polished and precise dance skills even had presenter Anele Mdoda in tears for the first time throughout the competition.
"When you see great talent, it's thrilling. When you take that young man and you see him on that stage, you know every human being has their moment in life, and we're witnessing his," enthused Ian von Memerty.
"For him to be so free and so happy and so confident in his state - this is something that must be shared with the whole country," stated Shado Twala.
"What more can one say? The guy can dance!" declared Randall Abrahams.
Equally impressive was runner-up George Avakian who, during his beatbox performance, instructed viewers to "watch five sounds come out of one human's mouth" - simultaneously, mind you - and then proceeded to do just that.
Meanwhile, that fact that Cleo Filander secured third place was more likely due to the "young, cute and cuddly" factor than actual performance quality. As with her semi-final offering on Tuesday night, she failed to hit many of the notes, and her choice of song (Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion's The Prayer) was far too high a reach for her eight years.
Rajbal walks away with R250 000 in prize money, which he plans to "invest in my future and do what I really want to do, which is film."
And in the long term, the Durban boy's ultimate dream is to "open a school to teach deaf kids how to dance".
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