Jessica Mauboy’s niece Saraya is dropped by coach Rita Ora

After awkwardly choosing Rita Ora over her own aunty, Jess Mauboy’s niece Saraya is sent home on The Voice.

The blind auditions are officially over, which means we’re onto a new segment on The Voice that has never been done before: ‘The Cut’.

This year on The Voice, the coaches were given unlimited chair turns during the blind auditions, but it meant that they would have to later cut their team down to only 5 members.

First up came Team Rita, who had a HUGE team of 14 members, (including girl group, G-Nation with 6 members).

Rita Ora could only take five members through to the next round. Picture: Channel 7

Putting them into their own little subcategories of pop stars, original creators, dancers and members who are still ‘finding themselves’, Rita had to make the incredibly hard decision.

Toward the end, Rita had to decide between two of her pop singers, Sian and Jess Mauboy’s niece Saraya … and the two ‘original’s’ Tanya and Isiah.

Rita had to choose between Tanya and Isiah. Picture: Channel 7

In a shock decision, Rita ended up choosing Sian and Tanya to go through to the knockouts, meaning Jess’s niece was going home before it all even began.

Saraya didn't make it through to the knockouts. Picture: Channel 7

The 17-year-old Darwin native was initially nervous to finally let her aunty Jess hear her sing.

“Watching her become who she is was amazing,” Saraya told the camera before her blind audition, “But growing up she was just ‘Aunty Jess’.”

“I don’t really sing in front of her, I just sing in my room. I’m not very out there as I would like to be.”

“I usually tell my Aunty everything but Aunty Jess has no idea I’m auditioning today. There’s a big chance she won’t recognise my voice at all,” Saraya added.

Jess Mauboy's niece chose Rita Ora as her coach after her blind audition. Picture: Channel 7

Saraya turned Rita, Jess and Guy’s chairs almost immediately when she sang Stay by Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko.

While everyone expected Saraya to choose her aunty, she ended up going with Rita.

In full support of her decision, Jess gave Saraya her blessing.

“It is a really great decision what you’re doing,” Jess told her. “You see Aunty Jess take this long journey and experience and you’ve heard Aunty Jess so many times, you’ve seen every performance. Now you need to come out of that circle and see something different.”