NBC Gwen Stefani, Camila Cabello, and Blake Shelton
Some viewers of NBC’s singing competition reality show are saying they won’t be watching “The Voice” season 22 because of the coaches.
Season 22 features original coach and self-proclaimed “king” of “The Voice,” Blake Shelton, long-time coach John Legend, sometimes coach Gwen Stefani, and new coach Camila Cabello.
Cabello took over for Kelly Clarkson, who was absent from the season because she wanted to take the summer off to spend with her children amid her divorce from her now ex-husband Brandon Blackstock.
Some People Think the Coaches Are Ruining the Show
Some people took to Reddit after the second week of Blind Auditions to share that they believe the coaches, specifically Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton, have ruined the show by getting married.
“don’t get me wrong i like both of them as individual coaches, but gwen keeps swooning over Blake reminding everyone they’re married every couple of minutes and it’s getting really annoying,” one person wrote on Reddit. “The whole fun dynamic between the coaches is that they’re competing against each other you know? Really missing the kelly vs blake bivkers right now not really a fan of the over the top alliance gwen and blake have right now bc currently it just feels like john vs camila vs the two of them.”
Some people agreed and said they weren’t watching the season.
“This is why I’m not even bothering to tune in this season,” one person wrote.
Others said they were annoyed with the coach bickering in general, with some people saying they enjoy the coaches all outside the show but not during the show.
“It’s totally overplayed at this point and not all that funny anymore,” one person wrote. “They waste so much time ‘bickering’ that they’d probably have room for at least 2 more performances.”
They added, “I’m also soooo tired of Gwen reminding us that she and Blake are married. Enough already!”
“This is the exact reason why I am always having a hard time getting invested in a season when Blake and Gwen are coaches ever since they started dating. It always feels like they’re a duo, or most of the time, Blake helps Gwen out. I kinda like Blake when he’s going all out against the other coaches,” another person commented about the dynamic.
‘The Voice’ Ratings Are Still Strong on NBC
While other competition shows have moved networks amid rating slumps, “The Voice” remains a powerhouse in ratings for NBC.
According to TVSeriesFinale, which reports Nielsen ratings for the season, the premiere of “The Voice” season 22 drew in 6.1 million viewers, which was down 15 percent from last season but still a solid number of viewers. The number of viewers is still lower than the least-watched season 21 episode, however.
The second Monday episode of the season brought in 6.1 million viewers as well, holding strong with the premiere numbers. The Tuesday episodes are also holding strong, bringing in over 6.1 million viewers for the premiere and 6.0 million for the second Tuesday of the season.
When compared to last year, the numbers are down nearly a million viewers per episode, in line with most other shows on network TV. TVSeriesFinale reported that the season 21 premiere pulled in 7.2 million viewers.