Guy Sebastian clarifies comments about The Voice blind auditions

Guy Sebastian has set the record straight on his bombshell revelation about judges being told when to turn during The Voice blind auditions.

Guy Sebastian has been forced to clarify comments about how much producers control what happens on The Voice, claiming he has “never once been told who to turn his chair for”.

It comes after the singer told Yahoo! what is written in the little red books judges refer to during blind auditions, revealing that sometimes, backstage puppet-masters will scribble down gentle “reminders” for the coaches to turn their chairs.

“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,” Sebastian had said, adding that producers might prompt them with a note saying ‘If this is just a one-chair turn, maybe jump in.’”

On Tuesday, Sebastian addressed the bombshell, clarifying that producers merely encourage the coaches to make the most of their unlimited chair turns in order to drum up on-screen showdowns between coaches battling for the same contestants.

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Guy said under the new format, they can turn around whenever they want – which they often need to be ‘reminded’ of.

Posting beneath a story by Tone Deaf with the headline ‘The Voice judge Guy Sebastian reveals producers tell them when to turn’, Sebastian set the record straight.

“Only problem is this headline is completely false,” the musician began.

“We are only given reminders of the different format changes. For example, this year there are unlimited chair turns instead of 12 spots, which means if we are on the fence we don’t need to be selective,” he reiterated.

“Obviously it’s way better to give the artist a choice and to battle it out with another coach than to default to only one coach who turns.”

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Guy said he ‘needed to clear up’ the ‘false’ headline.

Calling out the misleading headline, Sebastian added: “I’m a fan of your page but I have to clear this up because we make a big effort to make the artists feel valued and to add to their artistry in a safe environment.

“Even when artists don’t get a chair turn, we make sure it’s a positive experience by giving feedback, or joining them on stage [for] a duet, etc. to make sure they don’t go home feeling like it was a failure.

“Clickbait false headlines undermine that. I have never once been told who to turn my chair for.”

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In his interview last week, Sebastian had toldYahoo! The Voice producers “go into it with a fair bit of thought” to create magical moments and healthy competition between coaches.

While he said the judges aren’t told anything about the contestants before they hear them sing, other than what state they are from and whether they’re performing an original or cover, they’re encouraged to use their unlimited chair turns when they can.

“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’,” he said.

Sebastian also revealed about 80 per cent of contestants score at least one chair-turn from the judges.

The Voice continues tonight from 7.30pm on Channel 7