The Voice is an American reality singing competition based on the Dutch show The Voice of Holland created by John de Mol and Roel van Velzen in which the four judges also coach the contestants, with the winner receiving a recording deal with Universal Republic.
Hosted by Carson Daly, the show features rotating musician coaches: Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Shakira, Usher, Gwen Stefani, Pharell Williams, Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys.
The show's format features four stages of competition: the blind auditions, the battle rounds, the knockouts and, finally, the live performance shows.
During the blind auditions, the decisions from the musician coaches are based solely on voice and not on looks. The coaches hear the artists perform, but they don't get to see them - thanks to rotating chairs.
If a coach is impressed by the artist's voice, he/she pushes a button to select the artist for his/her team. At this point, the coach's chair will swivel so that he/she can face the artist he/she has selected.
If more than one coach pushes his/her button, the power then shifts to the artists to choose which coach they want to work with. If no coach pushes his/her button, the artist is eliminated from the competition.
Once the teams are set, the battle is on. Coaches will dedicate themselves to developing their team of artists, giving them advice and sharing the secrets of their success, along with help from their celebrity advisers.
During the battle rounds, the coaches will pit two of their own team members against each other to sing the same song together in front of a studio audience.
After the vocal battle, the coach must choose which of his/her singers will advance to the next round of competition, while the losing artist is available to be stolen by another coach. Each coach has two steals available during the battle rounds.
At the end of the battles, only the strongest members of each coach's roster remain and proceed to the knockout rounds. The artists will be paired again with a member of their own teams, but this time they find out only minutes before performing with whom they are competing.
The artists each select their own songs to perform individually, while their direct competitor watches and waits. They are vying for their coach's confidence and decision to take them to the live shows.
Their coach will choose the winner, and the artist not selected will be sent home.
In the final live performance phase of the competition, the top artists from each team will compete each week against each other during a live broadcast. The television audience will vote to save their favourite artists, and the two artists with the lowest number of votes will be sent home each week.
In the end, one will be named "The Voice" and will receive the grand prize of a recording contract.
The Voice is a presentation of Mark Burnett's One Three Inc., Talpa Media USA Inc. and Warner Horizon Television. The series is created by John de Mol, who executive produces along with Burnett, Audrey Morrissey, Stijn Bakkers and Lee Metzger.
Winners
Season 1: Javier Colon
Season 2: Jermaine Paul
Season 3: Cassadee Pope
Season 4: Danielle Bradbery
Season 5: Tessanne Chin
Season 6: Josh Kaufman
Season 7: Craig Wayne Boyd
Season 8: Sawyer Fredericks
Season 9: Jordan Smith
Broadcast Notes
The first two seasons aired on SABC3, after which the channel lost the broadcast rights to M-Net Series Reality, which began broadcasting from Season 4. It moved to M-Net for Season 6 and began airing on Vuzu from Season 4. Season 3 did not air in South Africa.
M-Net discontinued the series after Season 9 and passed first-run rights to sister channel M-Net Family for Season 10.