The Voice might be a reality talent show but one thing it certainly ISN’T, is a pantomime – and that’s because the audience was NOT allowed to boo. WHAT?!
The judges faced a backlash of boos from the studio audience for not spinning for acts that they thought should go through. The Voice judge Tom Jones, told us: “The audience had to be told for the blind auditions in Manchester that if they thought someone was really good and we didn’t – they [the audience] were starting to boo – so they were told ‘Oh don’t do that because it’s not right. People at home have got to make up their own minds, let them [viewers] boo, you don’t want to be booing in the studio’.”
And Will.i.am admits he listens to the audience before deciding whether to turn. “The audience push me to turn a couple of times but what I realise is that when you’re anticipating turning round you’re ruining the experience of just enjoying it for what it is because your mind is fixated with over analysing it, and you don’t see it for what it truly is. You get booed a lot when you don’t turn around.”
But newcomer Rita Ora says the booing is “intense", adding: “Yeah you get booed, I had to get used to that."
And Will.i.am admitted that they DID send home some “really awesome people” but Ricky Wilson wants disappointed contestants to keep their chin up, he added: “If none of us turn, it’s nothing to get upset about – it means you have another opportunity to get stronger.”