Cate McHugh, from Llantwit Major took the crown at the grand final on ITV1
22:46, 31 Oct 2026Updated 22:59, 31 Oct 2026
Cate McHugh on The Voice(Image: ITV)
Welsh singer Kate McHugh has won The Voice UK 2026. She took the title after tonight’s grand final on ITV1.
Representing Team Tom Jones, Cate wowed the studio audience with her performances to bag the £50,000 cash prize, a recording contract with Universal Music Group and a holiday to Universal Orlando Resort in Florida.
Cate’s victory sadly came as the show bade goodbye to another Welsh star Sir Tom who is departing leaving the show which he has been a judge with on and off since 2012.
Cate began busking in Cardiff city centre aged just 16, and now at 31 she has come out top on The Voice UK.
She beat three other finalists competing for the title, with Monique Nicholson-Porter representing Kelly Rowland, Naná Aldrin-Quaye on Team will.i.am and Frank Raven mentored by McFly stars Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones.
This year’s winner was decided by the audience present during filming and not pre-recorded.
People watching at home couldn’t vote for their favourite contestant, which brought in some criticism online during the broadcast.
To get on the show Cate, from Llantwit Major initially impressed judges with her performance of Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ track Die With A Smile during her blind audition, prompting Sir Tom to press the button and turn his chair.
During her audition, she spoke openly about living with the degenerative macular condition Stargardt disease. Despite losing her vision to the condition aged 22, she has refused to let it diminish her determination or talent.
One day while performing in Cardiff Bay, Cate noticed that The Voice UK was seeking applicants for the forthcoming series. She chose to apply on impulse, thought nothing further of it and continued with her day, reports Wales Online.
The vocalist was subsequently invited to audition before judges Kelly Rowland, Will.i.am, McFly’s Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones, and Sir Tom Jones.
Speaking to Wales Online before she won, she described stepping onto the stage of the Voice UK as unlike anything she had experienced before.
Cate said: “Walking out onto the stage for my blind audition is like no other stage that I’ve been on to date. TV isn’t something I’m experienced in. I love gigging, I’ve been doing that for years. But that stage with the lights, it’s just really different, really bright, and I couldn’t see anything, so they walked me out to where I needed to be, and I was just hoping I was pointed in the right way.
“Knowing that the judges were in front of me, and that there might be a turn, I knew that if anything happened, I wasn’t going to be able to see that it had happened. So there was a little bit of me that was pulled out of the moment, that was just thinking like, ‘what are you going to do if something happens? Am I going to know?’ A bit strange because with me, it really is a blind audition.”
The singer revealed that within the studio, there is no audible sound when the chairs rotate, only a light signal. She explained that she was convinced she detected a subtle change in the light, sensing that something had occurred, yet remained unaware of who had turned for her — until Sir Tom Jones delivered some extraordinary feedback.
Cate said: “Having Sir Tom Jones tell you that he wants you on his team, as a born and bred Welsh singer is insane. Because, I mean, his career has been mad and constant, and he’s still brilliant. So, knowing that I was going to get to work with him was just like, yeah, it’s good.
“I mean, we all grow up singing Tom Jones’ songs, every St David’s Day, every rugby game. It’s part of growing up in Wales.”
When questioned about whether she would have selected Sir Tom as a mentor regardless of who turned their chair, Cate revealed she hadn’t really considered the possibility that anyone would turn, so hadn’t given it much thought.
She said: “I didn’t want to give myself too much hope before I got on that stage. So I really didn’t think too much about it. But in the back of my mind, I was like, Sir Tom Jones, because he loves his country music and the soul of my voice sits in that like warm country tone. So, I knew that about him, and I was like, ‘this could, this could be a bit of fun.'”.
Following her audition, Sir Tom likened Cate to the all-time greats, stating: “You’ve been blessed with a wonderful voice. If you’re short-sighted, you’re not short-voiced.”
Reflecting on the moment, Cate said: “That was a really nice thing for Tom to say. I’ve never felt that my sight has impacted my ability to sing and hearing it from him that, obviously, he talked about the greats that he’s worked with who have also been affected by sight loss, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles. It was quite nice to be put in the same sentence as those, I’m not going to lie. It’s just that little bit of clarification that you’re unstoppable, really,
“Knowing that you’re in a safe pair of hands with Tom Jones, but that he has worked with people who’ve experienced similar things to me, he knows where to go and how to make it just about the song.
“He’s absolutely lush, and I couldn’t have asked for a better, better setup here, it’s lovely.”
Cate’s condition, Stargardt disease, means her vision has deteriorated gradually, leaving her with blurred patches and only her peripheral vision intact. Furthermore, this can be exacerbated by varying conditions such as bright or dimly lit environments.
She said: “Losing my sight whilst I was already a professional singer was a moment where I had to think, am I going to be able to do this going forward or is this where we decide to pivot on the career? But I’m quite stubborn, so I decided, ‘no, we’re going to go for it, we’re going to see what happens, and what will be, will be.’ So, I just sort of take every performance as is.
“Once those lights are down on a stage, you don’t see the audience as such, anyway. So, everybody’s in that same sensory deprivation, just listening to the sound sort of situation.
“I think, ultimately, I took it really well finding out that I was going to lose that portion of my sight and my independence, because my mum has the same condition. We were told, as siblings, me and my brother, that we would never be affected by the condition, ’cause it’s not the way it works. Obviously, fate, genetics had another plan for me, but having watched my mum do it, I knew that I was going to be able to do it with the most capable pair of hands to show me what to do.
“There wasn’t the fear that a lot of people experience when they’re told it, ’cause for me, there wasn’t so much unknown, because I’d seen my mum do it.”
The vocalist revealed that following her audition, viewers have contacted her to express how wonderful it is to witness representation of visual impairment on television.
She remarked: “Everything has been really positive. It’s been lovely to look through comments and read people’s responses. I’ve had lots of people reach out to me who’ve got family members, their own children or themselves who suffer with either the exact same condition that I have or something similar.
“That’s been really nice, that people have been like, ‘Thank you for doing this.’ There’s a lot of doubt in your life when you’re told that something so massive is going to happen to you with your health. It’s been lovely for people to be like, ‘Thank you for showing that these things don’t have to stop you doing your dreams and doing what you want to do.’
“It’s massively important to see that representation, because to glance at me quickly without knowing me, you wouldn’t know that I have a sight condition that I struggle in those ways. I kind of want to, not educate people because that sounds really preachy, but just to broaden the understanding of what sight loss can be. I think a lot of people think that people who are blind have absolutely no eyesight at all, and that can be the case, but it’s not, it’s a spectrum.”
The singer discussed her experience of collaborating with Sir Tom Jones, and how despite the common warning to “never meet your heroes”, she is delighted that she did.
Cate said: “Loads of people are asking me if Tom Jones is as lovely as he seems, which he absolutely is. He is just like, Welsh granddad vibes, he’s lovely.
“They say, never meet your heroes? So there was a little bit of me that was worried that he wasn’t going to live up to my expectations. I needed not to be worried at all, ’cause he was absolutely just this warm aura. You can tell that he is just a legend.”
Throughout their time working together, Tom generously imparted advice, wisdom and a number of anecdotes.
Cate said: “Live in the moment, sing in the moment, is something that he really preaches. So, it’s all about emotional connection and delivery, and just connecting to the words of the songs that you’re going to sing, and that will influence your performance. That’s where he stands from. Not flashy, not jazzy, just true.
“When we were preparing for the battles and we were given this song, You Never Can Tell by Chuck Berry. Tom comes in and speaks to us and just tells us about all the times he spent with Chuck Berry, and there’s no one else with that wealth of story and just experience to spill out and tell you, and it was just brilliant. Like I don’t know that there’s anyone, he’s unmatched.”
During the Battles episode, Cate was matched with the country duo Eric and Jensen. She wasn’t acquainted with their allocated song by Chuck Berry, though they all had the chance to rehearse the track with Tom.
He counselled the performers “not to think about this like you’re trying to beat the person that you are singing with, because it’s not about that. At the end of the day, it is a performance, it’s a duet. “.
After the duet, Cate revealed that she has never experienced stress like it while she awaited the Welsh icon to reach his verdict.
She said: “The waiting as Sir Tom was getting us to walk forward, telling us what he thought about our performances, and then ultimately either picking or not picking somebody to move forward, I’ve never felt closer to cardiac arrest in my life.
“I was genuinely unwell in that moment. I’m not a nervous performer, I thrive on the feeling that I get, the excited singing energy that I get. But that moment waiting to be told yay or nay, what’s going to happen now, oh my god, I thought I was going to die.
“The talent on Sir Tom’s team was insane and so varied in all styles. So, there really was no telling where we were going to go, what we were going to end up with, and what the pick was going to look like. I had no idea.”
Having grown up in the small town of Llantwit Major and launched her singing career at 16 busking outside the NatWest on Queen Street in Cardiff, Cate always believed she was destined to become a professional singer.
She explained: “It’s always something that I’ve known about myself, that my voice is how I want to tell my story, and singing is something I could never not do. I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I wasn’t musical. So, having that affirmed and given these opportunities through a show like The Voice is just wonderful.
“I’m from a little town, where if I’m honest, a lot of my gigging has been done outside of my town, so there are people who I’ve lived next door to since I was five, who don’t know all of this about me, really. So it’s nice to bring that back home, and also like representing a little Welsh town is lovely.
“I do think about little 15-year-old Cate with her guitar sat on a box busking outside the bank in Cardiff, ’cause she has no idea what we’re doing now.”