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Feeling wronged, Muhammad Shalehan emailed
Hadley after being refused the S$10,000 ($7,063) prize on the
grounds that he mispronounced the Englishman's name in a
competition where contestants must identify celebrities in a
sound clip.
In a letter titled "A normal citizen from Singapore needs your
dear help, Mr. Tony Hadley," he asked the singer to be the
judge.
"To my shock, he replied and even recorded a video endorsing my
pronunciation of his name - that was my last fighting chance,"
said the 32-year-old train driver.
Shalehan received Hadley's response in a video message that
backed his claim to the prize.
"I've listened back to the tape, and as far as I'm concerned,
you pronounced my name absolutely correctly," Hadley, 59, told
him in the video, which Shalehan posted on Facebook.
Hadley said there may have been a slight accent, "but as far as
I'm concerned, you said my name correctly, so you should be
entitled to whatever the prize was."
The radio station then offered Shalehan a S$5,000 "token of
appreciation" for his enthusiasm, but he refused to give in,
arguing that even Hadley had stood up for him.
The saga has spawned numerous posts on social media in support
of Shalehan and his pursuit for justice.
The radio station, which plays hits from the 70s, 80s and 90s,
on Friday agreed to pay the full amount, plus fund a shopping
trip.
"Justice has been served. That's the most important thing,"
Shalehan said.
(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan and Ng Yi Shu; Editing by
Martin Petty)
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