Blake Shelton just finished his 21st season on the show.
Since the show began, there have been several coaches, but Blake is the only one who has been on The Voice every single season since the first.
However, it turns out that Blake Shelton wasn’t The Voice’s first choice as the country music coach.
NBC actually went to a very different country singer with the offer first.
Blake Shelton almost wasn’t a coach on The Voice
When producers were putting together the cast of The Voice for its first season, they went with a rock star in Adam Levine, a pop Diva in Christina Aguilera, a producer in CeeLo Green, and a country music artist in Blake Shelton.
However, they approached a different country star before going to Blake.
The Voice wanted Reba McEntire to be the voice of country music on The Voice.
Reba was on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen (via Country Now) and was talking about turning down the role on The Voice.
“It’s very true,” Reba told Andy. “It was a very popular show in Holland, I’m pretty sure, and I watched the tape, and I said, ‘No, I’m going to pass on that’ because I don’t think I could ever be able to tell somebody that they’re terrible or go find another job or hope you like your nighttime job.”
“I couldn’t do that day in and day out. I just couldn’t do it, so I did pass on it.”
However, looking back on Blake Shelton’s tenure on the show, she said that he was the perfect choice to be on the show.
She also said she regrets turning it down.
“Oh sure,” Reba said. “I mean, after you see a very successful show that’s been running, what, 15 years? Uh, yeah! I’m like, ‘Shoot, I should’ve done that.’”
Blake’s extremely high salary might also have something to do with that regret.
The Voice won’t be back until this fall
As we previously reported, The Voice has changed from a show that airs twice a year to one that only airs once.
This means that the spring version of The Voice will not arrive in 2022 and the show won’t be back until September or October for Season 22.
The Voice is on hiatus. The singing reality competition series will be back in late 2022.
good thing they made the right choice because i believe the Voice would not be as popular without him and they may not still be on everyone loves Blake.