Carson Daly Opens Up About 'The Biggest Hurdle' The Voice Has Endured, And Of Course Blake Shelton Is Involved
Such a troublemaker.
Blake Shelton became The Voice’s biggest star after serving as a coach on the singing competition for its first 23 seasons. However, fans can’t forget that Carson Daly has stuck around even longer. The Voice recently wrapped on its 25th season — with Asher HaVon securing a deserving win — and Daly has been there for all of them. As the host reflected on the show’s longevity, he opened up about “the biggest hurdle” the series has faced, and of course it had to do with Shelton.
While the ability to swap coaches in and out of its panel has been one aspect that Carson Daly thinks has contributed to The Voice’s long-term success, it presented a huge challenge when Blake Shelton chose to step away in 2023. In fact the host told Gold Derby that Shelton's departure was “the biggest hurdle that this show has ever had to endure.” Daly continued:
That’s a pretty huge compliment, but not an exaggeration, as any fan of the show could tell you. Not only was the cowboy fun to watch for how he trolled Carson Daly and the other Voice coaches, he was really good at the job. Blake Shelton gave honest feedback and unbridled support, winning nine seasons of the show, and he has famously continued to work with many of the artists from his teams long after their seasons ended.
In any competition show, like American Idol or America’s Got Talent, the judges become characters, with their individual personalities and preferences. The Voice’s format made its panel an even bigger part of the show by having the coaches form teams that compete against the others. This resulted in rivalries, and what viewer doesn’t love that? Blake Shelton excelled in that area, forming a bromance-turned-rivalry with Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine. Carson Daly said:
Replacing Blake Shelton on the coaching panel was no small task for The Voice, and it made sense that they’d go with country music royalty. Reba McEntire has been on the show for two seasons now, and she’s set to reunite with Shelton’s wife Gwen Stefani and new coaches Snoop Dogg and Michael Bublé when the competition returns to the 2024 TV schedule this fall.
So far The Voice hasn’t totally been able to replicate the fun that Blake Shelton brought to it through his rivalries with Adam Levine and, later, Kelly Clarkson, but that just goes to show why the cowboy was such an important figure for so long.
It’ll be exciting to see what the new coaches bring to Season 26. Both Snoop Dogg and Michael Bublé have served as guest mentors on past seasons — the “Gin and Juice” rapper most recently as the Mega Mentor in Season 20. Carson Daly will be back, too, and I wonder if he’s like me in hoping we’ll see a rivalry form between the Queen of Country and the D-O-Double G.
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Heidi Venable is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend, a mom of two and a hard-core '90s kid. She started freelancing for CinemaBlend in 2020 and officially came on board in 2021. Her job entails writing news stories and TV reactions from some of her favorite prime-time shows like Grey's Anatomy and The Bachelor. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a degree in Journalism and worked in the newspaper industry for almost two decades in multiple roles including Sports Editor, Page Designer and Online Editor. Unprovoked, will quote Friends in any situation. Thrives on New Orleans Saints football, The West Wing and taco trucks.