THE honeymoon belonging to the highly lauded talent show “The Voice of China” and its fanatical following has come to an end.

    Since its second season premiered on Zhejiang Satellite Television on July 12, negative comments on its coaches and students have been widely spread, and a war of words between its production team and that of the ongoing talent show “Happy Boy” by Hunan Satellite Television has pushed the criticism to shrill levels.

    It’s been revealed that several students on this season of “Voice” have either signed contracts with famed entertainment agencies or maintained personal connections with coaches. For example, a student named Yao Beina has been accused of being a favorite of former “Voice” coach Liu Huan. Yao is accused of joining Huayi Brothers, one of the biggest film production companies in China, last year after winning the National Young Singers’ Competition aired by China Central Television. Another student, Ye Binghuan of Taiwan, has been recognized by netizens as having met “Voice” coach Harlem Yu at a Taiwanese talent show a few years ago. Yu is accused of pretending to meet Ye for the first time on this season of “Voice.”

    Amid doubts about the fairness of its selection process, “Voice” has provoked a war involving another high-profile show — “Happy Boy” — as “Voice” publicity director Lu Wei wrote on his WeChat that: “The quality of ‘Voice’ is 10 times better than that of ‘Happy Boy.’” Following the provocative comment, the production team of “Happy Boy” struck back by mocking “Voice” for “not daring” to broadcast live.

    Lu later explained that he didn’t expect his words to spread online, since he was just expressing his feelings after watching a rebroadcast version of the latest “Happy Boy.”

    (Tan Yifan)