The Voice judge Guy Sebastian has revealed just how much of the wildly popular show is controlled by producers.
With the show currently bringing in more than one million views a night, Sebastian has explained that its success comes from more than just the amazing performances.
“I think the producers go into it with a fair bit of thought,” Sebastian told Yahoo! Lifestyle.
“For example, they’ll have some people that are pretty good, and then towards the end of the session when we’re a bit tired and we are desperate for a lift, they’ll put in this ‘wow’ singer.
“And I think sometimes it might look like we’re being over the top, but we’ve probably sat through some mediocrity for a little while and then there’s someone that’s like, oh my gosh.”
Image: Channel 7
Sebastian also shared details about the little red notebooks each judge has sitting next to them in their chairs, revealing that they contain information the producers want the judges to know.
“It’ll sort of just say like, what state they’re from. There’s no names, no gender or anything like that,” Sebastian explained.
“We never get told anything about who they are, we don’t get told the song.
“But if it’s a really random song, like one that’s some B-side Whitesnake or Radiohead or something that not everyone knows, we get told that so we don’t think it’s an original.”
Image: Channel 7
While the star singer admitted he didn’t want to “give away TV secrets”, he disclosed that the books also include notes directing judges on who they should turn their chairs around for.
“This season we’ve got unlimited chair turns so sometimes if there’s one coach that goes in for a chair turn, to make it more interesting, you may as well go in there and have a crack at pitching,” he said.
“They don’t want the show to be all one-chair turns for some of the artists. You want the artist to feel like there are two coaches fighting over them, otherwise, how do you make a good segment out of that?
“It’s just literally, ‘oh Keith is the only one that turned, so you’re stuck with Keith’.
“So there are little things the producer will write in, stuff like, ‘If this is just a one-chair turn, maybe jump in’.”
Image: Channel 7
Sebastian added that the judges will add in their own notes, but the books are mostly used for production directions.
“It’ll tell you who the leading coach is, as in, ‘Keith you kick this one off with, “Hey, where are you from? What’s your name?”’.
“That’s why we look at them because we’re going, ‘Is this me?’.
“Otherwise, sometimes they sing and everyone just sits there if you don’t read your notebook.”
Sebastian also shared that at least one judge will turn around for about 80 percent of contestants, and that those who don’t get a chair-turn should still walk away with something.
Image: Channel 7
“What we all decided is hey, if someone didn’t get a chair turn, how do we get them to leave feeling not like a failure but feeling like we’ve given them some coaching, some tips, some technical advice, or got up and sang with them and made it a moment,” he said.
“Those little things make it so there’s no disappointment or heartbreak and it just adds to the overall feeling that we’re part of something really nice.”
