The Voice UK host Emma Willis welcomed new judge Tom Fletcher with open arms but admitted he struggled during his debut on the show, noting it was “really weird” to see him so nervous.
Danny Jones and Fletcher are joining The Voice UK legends Sir Tom Jones and Will.i.am as well as newcomer, singer LeAnn Rimes – with all five judges being desperate to find the UK’s next biggest singer.
The McFly singers will be sitting alongside one another in a show first as they share the judging chair and have to make the decisions together and communicate with one another.
Willis recently discussed what dynamic the new coaches bring to the team and said: “LeAnn is amazing. It blows me away that she has been in the business for 30 years.
“She started as a kid, so she has a wealth of knowledge and is brilliant as a coach. She also does The Voice Australia, so she knows exactly how it all works and excels in the chair.
“She is very competitively spirited, especially with Tom and Danny. They have a funny dynamic when they pitch against each other, so having her on board has been awesome!”
She added: “It’s hard for me to describe Tom and Danny because they are my mates, and I know exactly what they are like. They are full of fun and genuinely committed to coaching and encouraging everyone on their team Danny is used to being in the chair because he has done The Voice Kids, but for Tom, it was all new.
“Tom was nervous, which was really weird to see because he wears so many different hats and is brilliant at everything he does. You’d think he would just slide straight into it.”
Both Fletcher and Jones touched on the new twist and discussed whether they had any disagreements whilst sitting in the double chair, noting: “There haven’t really been any disagreements.
“But we only get 90 seconds to make our choice, so sometimes we might second guess ourselves, whilst trying to figure out what each other is thinking. You never want to talk over someone’s performance, so we’re trying to work out each other’s facial expressions.
“There was one audition where Danny literally grabbed my hand to press the button – because I was wavering and taking my time,” leaving Jones to add: “And there was another one that you turned for and I was like ‘what are you doing?!’.”
“That’s part of the double chair. You have to trust your partner. If Danny hears something that I don’t, you have to trust your partner,” Fletcher replied before Jones teased: “You have to telepathically talk!”
Backing up the Five Colours in Her Hair hitmakers, Willis agreed: “There hasn’t been and I think that is what is so great about having two people like that in a double chair because they are best mates and they have been in a band together for two decades!
“They have different tastes in music, but they are like brothers, so they know each other really well. I think they appreciate each other’s viewpoint, and they know how to work with that because they have had to do that for so many years. I think they agreed most of the time as well!”
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Katie Rawcliffe, ITV’s head of entertainment commissioning, said of this year’s competition: “The Voice UK is back and it’s louder than ever.
“What a thrill to have an international music icon like LeAnn Rimes joining the show, and homegrown superstars Danny and Tom in our first ever two-person chair, plus the legends that are Will.i.am, Sir Tom and Emma Willis, we are in for a great series.”
