Cate McHugh, a singer from Llantwit Major in the Vale of Glamorgan, has won The Voice UK, according to BBC Wales. The ITV show announced her as the champion on Sunday, 1 November 2026, rewarding a performer who first built her career as a teenager playing on the streets of Cardiff.
McHugh appeared visibly shocked when her name was read out, BBC reports. Asked by the show how she felt, she replied simply that she had done it. In comments released after the broadcast, the 31-year-old said she was stunned by the result and had not yet taken in the news.
Her victory came on the same night Sir Tom Jones made his last appearance as a coach. The singer, who had been part of the panel on and off since the programme launched in 2012, embraced McHugh after the announcement. He had previously said publicly that ITV had decided to remove him from the role.
Why it matters
The result closes a long climb that began well before television cameras were involved. BBC reports that McHugh was singing before she could talk, started formal lessons at six and was working professionally by around 15, performing as a busker in Cardiff.
Her win also carries weight beyond the contest itself. McHugh lives with Stargardt disease, a degenerative condition affecting central vision that she was diagnosed with at 22, during her second year at music school. She is registered blind. On a show built around the drama of a coach turning a chair for a voice they cannot see, her story gave that format an unusually literal meaning: at her blind audition, she could not tell whether anyone had responded until she heard a voice.
A final duet and a life-changing prize
McHugh's prizes include £50,000 in cash and a recording contract. Her first single, a cover of The Beatles' "Blackbird", has already been released, according to BBC.
During the final she performed a duet of John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads". Family members could be seen celebrating in the studio audience, and footage McHugh later shared on social media showed relatives and friends at a watch party in Cardiff cheering as the result came through.
In a social media post after the show, she thanked supporters for following her journey and said the next stage would be where things became genuinely enjoyable.
Her path to the final began with an audition that turned on a single song. BBC reported in September that her rendition of Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars's "Die With A Smile" prompted Sir Tom to press his button. Because her condition affects the centre of her vision, McHugh said she waited without knowing whether a coach had turned, and only realised when she heard him speak. She described being picked for his team as impossible to put into words, and said her parents reacted with a huge roar when she called to tell them.
McHugh has also credited her mother, who has the same condition, as a source of inspiration, describing how she has found ways around whatever has affected her physically or mentally.
A farewell for Sir Tom
The night was notable for the coach as much as the contestant. Sir Tom, 86, who is from Pontypridd in Rhondda Cynon Taf, had announced in September on Instagram that ITV had made the decision to let him go, a disclosure that followed speculation he would not feature in the 2027 series.
He is currently on his Come Gather Round world tour, though at the end of October he told fans he would need to reschedule or cancel some US dates because of a severe bout of flu, apologising to ticket holders.
For McHugh, the immediate next step is the release of her first single and the work that follows a recording contract. For viewers, the question is how a singer who spent years performing to passers-by in Cardiff translates a televised win into a lasting career.
