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Season 18 of The Voice has wrapped up its blind audition episodes and it is now time to start the Battle Round, which kicks off on Monday, March 23 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
Here’s what you need to know about the show’s schedule moving forward.
There Will Be 20 Battles
For the first time since season four, each coach only has 10 team members instead of 12. That means there will be 20 battles — five per coach times four coaches equals 20. With that in mind, there will probably only be three weeks of Battle Round episodes, on March 23, March 30 and April 6. We say this because typically, a Battle Round episode features six battles and sometimes seven. So that works out to be three episodes.
The special celebrity mentors for the Battle Round this year are Dua Lipa for Team Kelly, Joe and Kevin Jonas for Team Nick, Ella
Mai for Team Legend, and Bebe Rexha for Team Blake. The remaining contestants are as follows:
Team Kelly: Tayler Green, Megan Danielle, Chelle, Sara Collins, Samantha Howell, Anaya Cheyenne, Mandi Thomas, Jules, Micah Iverson, and Gigi Hess.
Team Nick: Tate Brusa, Joanna Serenko, Arei Moon, Allegra Miles, Samuel Wilco, Jacob Miller, Roderick Chambers, Michael Williams, Anders Drerup, and Kevin Farris.
Team Legend: Nelson Cade III, Darious Lyles, Zach Day, CammWess, Thunderstorm Artis, Zan Fiskum, Mike Jerel, Brittney Allen, Mandi Castillo, and Cedrice.
Team Blake: Todd Tilghman, Todd Michael Hall, Levi Watkins, Toneisha Harris, Joei Fulco, Jamal Corrie, Jon Mullins, Jacob Daniel Murphy, Cam Spinks, and Kailey Abel.
After the Battle Round episodes are over, there will be 24 contestants left in the competition, six per coach — the five battle winners and the stolen artist. The saved artists will be competing against each other in a special Four-Way Knockout where one of them will advance to the live shows.
There Will Be Three Knockout Round Episodes
With 24 contestants left for the Knockout Round, it would seem like there would have to be four Knockout Round episodes. However, if there are four, that puts the finale airing on Memorial Day because Memorial Day is really early this year, so that’s probably not the case.
What is more likely is that there are three Knockout episodes — on April 13, April 20, and April 27. The final Knockout episode will feature the Four-Way Knockout between the saved contestants from the Battle Round. The public will vote on which one of those four gets to advance to the live shows.
At this point, the Knockouts will whittle each team down to four — the three knockout winners and the stolen artist for each coach. That leaves 16 contestants plus the Four-Way Knockout winner advancing to the live shows for a total of 17 performers.
There Are Three Weeks of Live Shows
The live shows will happen on May 4 and 5, May 11 and 12, and May 18 and 19. That is, if there are going to be live shows. The status of the live shows is still up in the air amid all of the COVID-19 social distancing. NBC is surely monitoring the situation to see if there’s anything they could feasibly do. Maybe they could have live performances without a studio audience?
If there are live shows, there will only be three weeks of live shows — the Top 17, the semi-finals and the finals. It’s unclear how many contestants will go home after the first live show, but it is likely to be half or close to half, like eight or nine contestants. Then the semi-finals would have eight or nine contestants and then the finals would have the usual four.
The Voice airs Mondays and eventually Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
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