Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Blake Shelton celebrates landing an artist on The Voice Season 20. Clearly, Nick Jonas wanted the artist as well. (NBC Photo)

Which coach has the strongest team entering the battle round on The Voice?

If you judge it by chair turns, it’s Team Blake Shelton, by the slimmest of margins.

If you judge it by four-chair turn artists, it’s Team Kelly, but there weren’t many four-chair turns in Season 20’s blind auditions.

Members of Team Blake turned 23 chairs during the blinds. That’s just one more than the members of Team Kelly and Team John, three more than the members of Team Nick.

Team Kelly, meanwhile, boasts a pair of artists — Kenzie Wheeler and Anna Grace — who turned all four chairs in the blinds.

Only two other artists accomplished that: Avery Roberson of Team Blake and Zae Romeo of Team Nick.

Now, this is also where I point out that The Voice battle and knockout rounds are blatantly unfair. That’s because an artist’s chance of being saved or stolen depends as much on how early he or she performs as how well he or she performs.

Thanks to the virtual audience watching these performances, spoilers are plentiful and accurate.

They show that seven of the eight available steals and saves were used during the first nine battle round matchups filmed (remember, the show mixes up the order for broadcast). That only left one steal — Blake’s — for the last 11 battles.

In the knockout round, all four steals were used in the first six matches. There wasn’t a single steal available on the second day of taping, consisting of five knockouts.

I’ve long suggested the Voice add suspense to these rounds by holding every save and every steal until the end of each round, then forcing the coaches to reveal who they planned to save or steal among all the at-risk singers.

That would force them to listen to all the performances before making those decisions. And it would be much fairer to contestants who devote so much time to this process.

Spoilers tell us the same thing happened with steals and saves in Season 19. They were all used early, leaving contestants who performed in later matches facing a prevail-or-go-home scenario. My hunch is that it’s been working that way for many seasons, we just don’t have the spoilers to prove it.

So, did The Voice address the issue? Of course not. This is the show that continues to use the instant save, though it was clear years ago that an instant save conducted on east coast time is unfair to West Coast contestants.

Remember, this is The Voice, where stroking the ego of celebrity coaches and celebrity guests is more important than treating contestants fairly.

Case in point, check out the asterisks below beside the names of Halley Greg and JD Casper. They were portrayed as singers who turned only one chair during the blinds. In truth, every team was full but Kelly’s when they auditioned.

Below are how the teams line up entering the battles. The number in parenthesis indicates chair turns. The links take you to profiles of the singers.

Team Blake Shelton (23)

Aaron Konzelman (2)
Avery Roberson (4)
Cam Anthony (3)
Connor Christian (3)
Emma Caroline (2)
Ethan Lively (1)
Jordan Matthew Young (3)
Keegan Ferrell (2) ****
Peter Mroz (2)
Savanna Chestnut (1)

Team Kelly Clarkson (22)

Ainae * (1)
Anna Grace (4)
Corey Ward (2)
Gene Garcia (3)
Gihanna Zoe (2)
Halley Greg * (1)
JD Casper ** (1)
Kenzie Wheeler (4)
Ryleigh Modig (2)
Savanna Woods (2)

Team John Legend (22)

Carolina Rial (2)
Christine Cain (2)
Ciana Pelekai (2)
Deion Warren (3)
Denisha Dalton (3)
Durell Anthony (2)
Pia Renee (2)
Rio Doyle (1)
Victor Solomon (3)
Zania Alake (2)

Team Nick Jonas (20)

Andrew Marshall (1)
Awari (2) ***
Bradley Sinclair (2) ***
Dana Monique (2)
Devan Blake Jones (1)
Jose Figueroa Jr. (2)
Lindsay Joan (2)
Rachel Mac (1)
Raine Stern (3)
Zae Romeo (4)

* Only Team Kelly had a spot remaining when she auditioned
** Only Team Kelly had a spot remaining when he auditioned
*** Only two teams had spots remaining when he auditioned
**** Only three teams had spots remaining when he auditioned