Maria Sadowska won the 23rd season of Polsat's "Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo," taking the Golden Face statuette and a 150,000 złoty prize during Friday evening's final, according to Pudelek.pl. The singer and director secured the win with a final performance as Barbra Streisand, singing "Somewhere." The outcome, decided by the show's jury, has since triggered a heated argument among viewers on social media.
The panel that awarded her the title consisted of Justyna Steczkowska, Małgorzata Walewska, Stefano Terrazzino and Piotr Gąsowski, Pudelek.pl reports. Sadowska said she passed the full cash prize to the Fundacja Polsat charity.
Why it matters
"Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo," a format in which celebrities impersonate well-known performers, has run on Polsat for more than two decades, and its finales regularly draw a large audience. This year's result has become a case study in the gap between a jury's judgment and the preferences of the viewing public.
The dispute centers less on Sadowska's own performance than on the placement of Marcin Maciejczak, whom Pudelek.pl describes as the clear audience favorite. Maciejczak finished fourth, behind Sadowska, Rafał Brzozowski and Ula Milewska, despite his widely praised impersonation of Anna German. Commenters online have argued that he was denied the win and have questioned the show's reliance on jury scoring rather than viewer SMS voting, with some describing the system as absurd. Some have alleged the result was fixed, a claim for which no evidence has been presented.
Sadowska says she doubted the win herself
Speaking after the final, Sadowska acknowledged that she had not expected to take the title. She told Pomponik, as cited by Pudelek.pl, that she had not won any of the earlier episodes and had repeatedly landed just off the podium, in third or fourth place.
She described the overall standard of the season as very high and said her fellow contestants had deserved their earlier victories. Around the midpoint of the competition she lost confidence, she said, concluding that the format might not suit her because she did not feel able to inhabit the characters and had never enjoyed performing covers. She called the experience a complete departure from her comfort zone.
According to the same interview, the turning point came in the semi-final, when she performed as Sam Brown with the song "Stop." The rendition drew strong praise from juror Małgorzata Walewska, and the encouragement gave Sadowska the confidence to attempt the demanding Streisand repertoire in the final. She said she only dared to take on Streisand after that semi-final win, noting that she had never sung in that style before and that the choice carried real risk.
Sadowska also framed the victory in personal terms, pointing out that she turned 50 this year and calling the trophy the best present she could have imagined. She added that the result showed her that limits exist mainly in a person's own head.
A finale overshadowed by reaction
Pudelek.pl reports that the final was intended as a celebration of music but ended in a large-scale dispute online. The strongest reaction was reserved for the jury's ranking of Maciejczak, whose Anna German performance had made him the frontrunner in the eyes of many viewers.
The controversy follows a pattern familiar to Polish talent television, where jury verdicts in the closing stages frequently collide with audience sentiment. What distinguishes this case, according to the coverage, is the intensity of the response and the focus on the scoring method itself rather than on any single performance.
Neither Polsat nor the show's producers have issued a public statement on the criticism, based on the reporting available. Sadowska has addressed her win in interviews but has not commented on the allegations circulating online.
What happens next is likely to be watched closely: whether Polsat responds to viewers' complaints about the voting system, and whether the debate over jury versus audience control shapes the rules for the next season.
