The Voice UK is a British television music competition to find new singing talent.
The third series began airing on 11 January 2014 on BBC One,[1] as opposed to the usual start in March.
Emma Willis and Marvin Humes co-presented the show for the first time, replacing Holly Willoughby and Reggie Yates.
[3] Jermain Jackman of Team Will was crowned as the winner of the series on 5 April 2014, making him the first male artist to win the show.
[5] On 5 July 2013, Jessie J announced that she would not be returning as a coach for the third series due to touring commitments in support for her second album, Alive.
[7] People rumoured to be in the running to join the panel as replacements for Jessie J and O'Donoghue included Rita Ora, Emeli Sande, Kylie Minogue, Marvin Humes, Melanie C and Cheryl Cole, though Cole was ruled out of the running after rejoining rival show, The X Factor.
On 19 September, Kaiser Chiefs singer Ricky Wilson confirmed that he would be a coach and O'Donoghue's replacement for the third series.
will.i.am and Jones then turn, as the voice is revealed to be one of the babies, prompting the tagline "A Star is Born".
On 1 January 2014, a new edition of the trailer aired, where another baby sings, in a more R&B style, also impressing the coaches.
Each coach was joined by an advisor, with Minogue being joined by Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears, Wilson by singer Katy B, Jones with Tinie Tempah and will.i.am with last year's runner up and from his own team, Leah McFall, and once again by Dante Santiago.
This series, however, the show decided to drop the "fast pass", and instead of singing in groups of three, each contestant sang in front of everyone else on the team.
[citation needed] When Anna was eliminated during the Knockout Rounds, her coach Will.i.am was subject to much criticism, particularly on Twitter and YouTube.
This was particularly noted as the week prior to the live shows, she had been ill, and had rarely rehearsed it to preserve her voice.
Ed Power from The Daily Telegraph gave the series premiere 3 stars,[27] praising Minogue for being "glamorous, agreeably giggly [and] a card-carrying national treasure".
The second blind audition continued to receive positive reviews from critics, receiving 4 (out of 5) stars by Michael Hogan from The Daily Telegraph, who commented that the "two new coaches add verve to The Voice UK and the newly confident singing contest seems to have found its feet" and that the new series "is a leap forward and the franchise has finally hit its stride.
He also said that "after such a promising start to the third series, it's a shame to see that The Voice falling foul once again of slack editing and familiarity of format."
Keith Watson of The Metro gave the second battle round two stars, stating that the show was full of "overambitious [artists] being made promises of stardom that will never come true".