Lim Young-woong was declared the victor on TV Chosun’s popular trot singer audition show, “Mr. Trot,” during a special live broadcast Saturday.

Host Kim Seung-joo announced that Lim Young-woong took first place in the fan votes, which accounted for 30 percent of the total score, receiving 1,374,748 votes. This led to Lim, who was second after Lee Chan-won before the final fan voting, to overtake Lee and win.

“Thank you to all the viewers who watched for such a long time. Thank you to all the masters (judges) who gave their all when giving advice and evaluations. Thank you to my mother for giving birth to me, and thank you grandma,” said Lim in his winning speech. “The day the final stage went live was the anniversary of my father’s death. This win feels like my father’s apology to my mother for leaving her alone. I want to also thank my father,” Lim added.

Lim’s prize included 100 million won ($82,000) in cash, a song from composer Cho Young-soo and an SUV, among others.

Second place went to Young Tak, and third place went to Lee Chan-won.

The announcement of the winner came later than planned as the voting system was overwhelmed by the unexpected number of votes. “Mr. Trot” was to announce the winner during the scheduled last episode, which aired Thursday, but record high numbers of votes caused the server to crash and the announcement to be delayed. Kim said at the time that results would be announced March 19, but the show’s producers decided to announce the winner during a special episode on Saturday.

A total of 7,731,781 votes were cast in the final vote, of which 5,428,900 were valid.

A televised concert by the contestants will be aired on March 19. The contestants are also scheduled to tour 40 cities in the country and 15 cities around the globe over 18 months, starting with the first concert in Seoul on April 18.

By Lim Jang-won (ljw@heraldcorp.com)