It’s been weird to watch The Voice’s Blind Auditions without Blake Shelton’s country twang chiming in to comment on a contestant’s pitch or jokingly undermine his fellow coaches’ expertise. After 23 seasons with the country star on the coaching panel, the show does still seem to be finding its footing, trying to fill the void by forcing new rivalries like John Legend vs. Niall Horan and boasting Reba McEntire’s decades of experience as she replaces Shelton. It’s possible, though, that nobody misses the cowboy more than his wife, and Gwen Stefani opened up about what it’s like to be on The Voice without him, including what's “frustrating” about his walking away.
Since 2011 Blake Shelton filmed two seasons of The Voice almost every year before announcing that he’d be hanging up his hat following the Season 23 finale. Gwen Stefani talked to ET about his decision to step away after so long, admitting that it took her a minute to come around to the idea. She said:
He's done, you know, 23 seasons. I think that there's only so many times you can repeat yourself. The thing that's frustrating is we all love watching him. He's so good at the show... It took me like a long time to accept that he was going to [leave], because I was like, 'Who will you be if you're not the guy on The Voice?' Ends up, he's still the same guy and I get to hang out with him every day. Sorry, guys, I'm lucky.
On the later seasons of The Voice, Blake Shelton often said he was running out of new advice to give and seemed to be concerned that he sounded like a broken record. Gwen Stefani acknowledged that he could only say the same things so many times, but what’s upsetting about him leaving is that we enjoyed watching him anyway. Until the end, he was still helping his team members and entertaining the home audience, but he just felt it was time to move on.
Now Gwen Stefani is the only one lucky enough to experience Blake Shelton’s humor and charm on a regular basis (at least until he makes his return to TV with Barmageddon’s second season). In fact, the country star is so missed on The Voice that not only can Stefani not stop talking about him, but it seems like he’s all the current coaches get asked about! This was inevitable, according to the No Doubt singer, who said:
Let's face it. Blake, he's such a huge part of this show. I mean, he is The Voice in so many ways, so it does definitely feel weird to be back without him. It feels kind of like [my] first season, before I knew he existed. It's kind of weird, but it's also like, I'm having so much fun.
The Voice coaches do seem to be having fun, despite rumors that Reba McEntire is struggling, and I’m excited to see which contestants rise to the top as the show prepares for the next round! The final night of Blind Auditions will air at 8 p.m. ET Monday, October 16, before the Battles premiere at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday, October 17. Keep up with all of the upcoming premieres with our 2023 TV schedule.
