The Voice – Live Show 3

Tonight’s show opened with Leanne Mitchell being thrown under a cabaret wagon and/or to the dogs. It was rather predictable – I asked in my pre-show piece which of Leanne, Frances or Matt & Sueleen would be sent on first and it turned out they were the right people to peg for it. Leanne got mediocre praise that echoed X Factor tactics and then we moved swiftly on. Goodbye, Leanne, I suppose.

Frances went up next and didn’t fare much better. After opening on the wrong note, the Wakefield lass struggled to find her key and then received lukewarm comments, as did Matt & Sueleen who went on third. I think it’s pretty fair to say that we won’t see any of the first three acts in the semi-finals.

Next up was Joelle, who did her very best to climb her way back up the ranks but failed to receive much favour from the show. After a weird moment of high-fives with the coaches, Joelle was essentially rather forgettable and I can’t imagine her qualifying through popular vote or Will’s save tomorrow.

So, essentially, The Voice appeared to rather blatantly split the eight acts into a first half of unflavoured contestants and a second half of favourites. Not exactly subtle. Sending Ruth on right after Joelle did an especially good job of eclipsing the latter, which seemed far from accidental. Ruth was indeed a firebomb. The sense that the show had really begun and that the headliners were performing was crystal clear. Ruth received another full standing ovation from audience and mentors alike and it seems clear that her place in the final and the public’s heart is unshaken. The whole “I feel like a musician now” moment with Tom Jones in rehearsal was VT gold.

Up next was Tyler James, whose slot suggested he is still preferred as number two on Team Will. With a song choice that suited him perfectly, Tyler looked like the clear semi-finalist to Ruth’s finalist. Perhaps I could be wrong and Joelle could be saved at the last moment but it seems very unlikely.

So the penultimate slot went to Adam Isaac, for whom The Voice are fashioning certain ‘endearing’ qualities. The coy lean over to the microphone has become a charming idiom, along with Adam’s slightly simple-minded comments and proposal-laiden VT. Aw, we are supposed to think. What a cutie.

If we imagine that The Voice wants more than two females in the eight-strong semi-finals and that Joelle and Leanne will fail to qualify then it seems fair to assume that Bo will have a good chance of qualifying next week. If that does become the case then only one out of Max, Aleks and David will qualify and that, for me, is the hardest question to call on The Voice so far (although having Adam in the semis would rather make up for losing one in terms of the ‘attractive man’ vote). It seems very likely, considering the predictability of tonight’s show that there will be no U-turns for Team Jessie and it will be Vince and Becky making it through.

Speaking of predictability, Jaz got pimped again. Not only did he receive a mashup of TWO popular songs about love, his VT showed him discovering the sex of his unborn child in a Harley Street clinic, presumably paid for by the show. On top of this, it was his wedding anniversary and photos of Jaz and his wife were incorporated into the stage set. I had speculated as to whether Jaz would be pimped again so soon but my doubts were quashed when Jaz received every favour the show could offer (even though he looked a lot like the Halifax man tonight).

So what does this mean for the results show? I stick by my prediction that Jaz and Ruth will make the popular vote whilst Tyler and Adam will be saved by their mentors. To be fair, it wouldn’t take a hardened Sofabet commenter to select those four contestants for the semi-final. Not after the preferences indicated in tonight’s show.

Your thoughts, please? Do let us know as soon as you hear of any leaks!