Leah McFall favourite to win The Voice UK 2013

Leah McFall is the bookies’ favourite to win BBC talent contest The Voice ahead of the final this weekend.

McFall, 23, who is mentored by Will.I.Am, beat her fellow Team Will contestant Cleo Higgins to join Matt Henry, Andrea Begley and Mike Ward in the live final on Saturday, which will be decided entirely by public vote.

Last week, McFall, who describes herself on Twitter as “sings weird, dresses like a grandpa and looks like a furby”, made it into the top 20 of the official UK charts with her rendition of ‘I Will Survive.’

With bookies’ odds of 2/7, McFall looks the firm favourite to win the show, with Mike Ward on odds of 11/2, followed by Andrea Begley with 6/1 and Matt Henry with 14/1.

McFall has the full backing of her mentor Will.I.Am, who said at the semi-finals he “rarely comes across people like Leah”, citing her “incredible range and crazy work ethic”.

The Voice live semi-final on Saturday saw a surprise ratings revival for the BBC talent show as it no longer competes with ITV's Britain's Got Talent for viewers.

The semi-final attracted an average audience of 5.8 million, an improvement on the 4.5 million who tuned in to the semi-final last year.

The winner of The Voice 2013 is promised a “lucrative recording contract”.

Acknowledging the commercial failure of last year’s winner Leanne Mitchell, Will.I.Am said of Mcfall: “It’s very rare you come across true talent singers. She wants to accomplish and be part of this industry. It’s hard to be in the top ten.

“We know who won last year and didn’t make it to the top ten and we’re not even finished here.”

The Voice 2013 final airs Saturday 22 June on BBC One at 7.15pm