How Blake Shelton Got Put on Blast on The Voice Season 29: “It Rubs Off…”

After serving as a Coach for the show’s first 23 seasons, the country star was not forgotten on The Voice: Battle of Champions.

Blake Shelton may have moved on from The Voice, but The Voice certainly hasn’t moved on from Blake Shelton. The country star was a Coach for the first 23 seasons of the show, working with all three of the Coaches currently on The Voice: Battle of Champions, and there’s one part of his legacy they’ll never forget — his little known habit of fibbing to score Artists.

During the first episode of The Voice Season 29, 16-year-old Liv Ciara performed former Coach Ariana Grande’s “we can’t be friends (wait for your love),” and scored chair turns from Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine. The moment was especially impactful because the young Artist had previously auditioned for Season 28 of the show with Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” and failed to get any chair turns, though she did gain wisdom from Coach Snoop Dogg: “rejection is redirection.”

When the teenager then mentioned being from St. Louis, Levine immediately shouted, “Me too!” which got Ciara excited. Except… Levine is famously from Los Angeles.

“Do you want a liar for a Coach?” asked Clarkson after Levine admitted he was not, in fact, from St. Louis. Coach John Legend then explained, “He’s in Blake’s old chair. It rubs off.”

Eventually, Ciara went with Clarkson, who had coached then-teenager Brynn Cartelli to a Voice win in Season 14; Cartelli was another comeback kid who re-auditioned for the show after an initial rejection.

Blake Shelton once had to take a lie detector test on The Voice

Blake Shelton appears on The Voice Episode 2217A — “Live Top 13 Performances”.

Photo: Trae Patton/NBC

Shelton’s reputation was so well-known on The Voice that during his final season in the red chair, the show had him take a lie detector test, with hilarious results. Did his fellow Coach and now-wife Gwen Stefani marry him out of pity? “Probably,” answered Shelton, and the device said his answer was true.

And Shelton’s Voice reputation remains. Legend, in particular, remembers Shelton’s habit of fibbing to get his favorite Artist. During Season 27, when Coach Michael Bublé promised to get an Artist’s name tattoo on his arm after a Blind Audition, Legend called him out and compared him to Shelton, saying, “What I’m learning is he’s a lot like Blake Shelton. He’s friends with Blake. He lies like him.”

The Voice: Battle of Champions

The Voice Season 29 is shaking things up, premiering on Monday, February 23 at 9/8c on NBC and streaming the next day on Peacock.

Officially titled The Voice: Battle of Champions, Season 29 features the show’s first-ever three-Coach lineup, putting The Voice OGs Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine, and John Legend back in the red chairs for an epic showdown.

The Voice Season 29 will also introduce fresh format updates such as the “Triple Turn Competition” and the “Super Steal.” You also won’t want to miss the exciting return of CeeLoo Green in a totally new role.

In a 2023 interview with NBC Insider, Clarkson also joked about Shelton’s lying reputation. “The best part about working with Blake Shelton on The Voice is you laugh a lot. He’s one of the funniest people I know. He’s hysterical,” Clarkson shared before adding with a laugh, “The worst thing about working with Blake Shelton on The Voice is… he is a liar.”

Watch new episodes of The Voice on Monday nights at 9/8c on NBC and the next day on Peacock.