..on the saturday night.

It's no different to XF or BGT where who makes the lives is known weeks in advance.

worse thing was i only found the results a week or so ago and i had already had some bets after week 2 , so i found out i done 120 quid already on someone that went out weeks ago .

Danny now saying biggest mistake of his life pairing max and bill.  I could have told you that the second I saw the pairing you daft tvvat.

yeah if you can scrub a few rags out you can bet them all for a profit if thats your thing, i threw a fair few quid at it on the value ones.
like you say I think the judges have already picked their faves and then guide them through and create some drama on the way, at the end of the day the BBC have thrown a fortune at this and they need some good tv.

Or was it SCD? Same difference.

Use even

from the guardian

Peter Robinson
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 April 2012 20.00 BST Article history 
The Voice: who are you kidding? Photograph: BBC
If you've been purposefully avoiding BBC1's weekend singing contest The Voice, brace yourself because the live shows start on Saturday night. If you're thinking this is the right time to dip in, the premise is that existing shows such as The X Factor or Britain's Got Talent are not about vocal ability but The Voice, as its catchphrase goes, is "all about the voice".

The Voice's pre-publicity insisted that there were no gimmicks. No sob stories. The judges aren't judges, it explained: they're coaches, and they offer constructive advice. Most importantly, the big idea of The Voice is that the coaches face away from the singer for the first audition, and are only allowed to see what they look like if they're impressed enough to want that singer on their "team". This means that entrants needn't boast model good looks, like X Factor's teen pinups Wagner, Mary Byrne and Johnny Robinson, to get to the public vote.

It's a well-worn marketing trick to launch Product B by highlighting how different it is to Product A, and Saturday night TV is hardly the place for subtlety – although Harry Hill managed it every week – but The Voice feels like it is protesting too much.

Whenever I tune in I see things like coaches hitting big red buttons with their bottoms then spinning around in their special whizzy chairs, and I see sombre music playing over footage of people whose dreams have, for whatever reason, failed and for whom this is one last chance. I see the coaches bickering with each other about who knows the most famous people, or I see them each, in turn, promising that they, not their rival, will make a singer successful, like a televised version of the moral atrocity that is the record-label bidding war. Last weekend I turned on the Sunday night broadcast of this gimmick-free contest and saw – to a soundtrack of what appeared to be a massacre at a livestock market – a succession of singers "battling it out" in a boxing ring. There were tears, and there were sob stories: admittedly the chap who was simply a bit nervous wasn't making much effort, but Dead Dad was up there with seasons 2-5 of The X Factor. The following day the BBC issued pictures of the show's "final 20", whom The Voice say should be judged on vocal ability, all having received impressive makeovers.

Every time I see one of the show's gimmicks or the manipulative, ratings-grabbing techniques so well established in the modern TV lexicon, I hear a twee, judgmental little jobsworth whining "it's all about the voice", and I wonder how different this really is from The X Factor.

Behind all the bluster surely everyone involved in The Voice – unless pathetically deluded – knows that it's a reality show much like any other. They know that it was a big brash ratings-winner for a commercial network in America long before someone at the BBC decided that public service broadcasting was best defined by spending £25m on a format aimed at taking on Britain's Got Talent. They know that the spinny-chair blind audition is mere tokenism when the coaches – who, let's remember, could not be trusted to put their stinking prejudices to one side for the first auditions – can subsequently weed out contestants once they've seen what they look like. Most alarmingly, they know that by focusing on singers who they claim might not get a chance elsewhere – LOOK AT THE BALD WOMAN SINGING, LOOK AT HER BALD HEAD WITH A SONG COMING OUT OF IT – they are exploiting people who look "unusual" just as much as The X Factor ever did, while pretending they're not and insisting it is for the contestant's own good.

It is a dark day for popular culture when one pines for the transparency of a Simon Cowell show, but The Voice's problem is that it attempts to graft earnestness on to a show that does not require such interference. Without wishing to over-egg a pudding that is already 90% meringue, The Voice represents the newboringification of light entertainment. Perching a brussels sprout atop a strawberry sundae may prompt squeals of wonder in the Masterchef semi-final but in the world of the Saturday night talent contest it is just annoying no matter how watchable the result.

The BBC is, of course, famously standoffish about these things. Who can forget Fame Academy (another bought-in format, of course, as the corporation hasn't developed a decent music show of its own in 20 years), which provided a counter to the excitement, spectacle and first thrill of Pop Idol by deciding that the whole experience should be a bit more like school?

Already The Voice is a ratings success, beating Britain's Got Talent. It is interesting how the The Voice's cheerleaders see these ratings wins as evidence of the programme's quality when The Voice's implied worldview – pop stars who sell loads aren't necessarily any good – almost invites viewers to believe the opposite. Even that view feels like your dad tutting his way through Top Of The Pops from behind a newspaper.

It wouldn't be quite so odd if the winner simply picked up a book token and rosette and went home with £100k. Instead, the winner is guaranteed a record deal with Universal Music. Why is that odd? Well let's not think too much about the poor Universal product manager who may stand to inherit an artist whose big selling point is that they don't look like someone who sells records. And let's not dwell too much on the memory of ill-fated 2007 fiasco DanceX, a show apparently so neutered by the BBC's undue prominence rulings that the winning band didn't perform its single on the final, leading to an unceremonious No 91 flop and a band (and TV show) that was never heard of again.

Instead consider this: people at labels will do anything to shift units. If they thought (or were convinced by market research) that society's less conventionally attractive characters had regular chart potential they'd be signing them left, right and centre. They'd put a bucket in a wig on a schools tour if they thought its first video could bring in product placement cash from a mobile handset manufacturer, and they've considered and investigated thousands of alternative ideas, so let's not kid ourselves that The Voice is likely to to open up some "hidden truth" about what people really want from their musicians, or tell the music industry something it doesn't already know.

This means that if the winner succeeds – if they're not one of the attractive candidates who seem to somehow have made it through to the public vote – it will be because they've been on The Voice. Really, then, they will succeed not because of their voice but, like The Voice itself, and like The X Factor every year, and like everything in the Top 40, because of marketing. The sooner The Voice admits that, the easier it will be to watch.

Not just a co-incidence that the older person went out in all but one battle where there was an age difference.  On a couple they even said they were going for the younger one because they were younger.  Hardly in the spirit of 'it's all about the voice'!!

Didn't like Vince that much but what they did to him was disgraceful.  Easily as big a stitch up as we have seen in any previous X Factor.  That battle was a real Build me up buttercup moment!

Frances on tmx:

The Voice UK live shows kick off on Saturday night, and we’ve got all the latest from artist Frances Wood, who is preparing to face the public vote!

“It’s nerve-wracking,” the 18-year-old told us earlier this week. “It’s a massive opportunity and I would hate to see it go, all my hard work go to waste.”

But there was little sign of nerves from the young performer. Indeed, she couldn’t wait to hit the stage.

“It’s also exciting, I’m just going to try and enjoy it as much was I can, then whatever happens, happens,” she said.

Frances has been working with Will.i.am and his team for the past few weeks ahead of Saturday’s first show, and she has nothing but praise for the Black Eyed Peas star.

She explained: “Will’s been amazing, you can have a laugh and some banter with him, and then when it’s time to be serious with the music, he’s good, he makes you feel at lease.”

And unlike on other shows – such as The X Factor – Frances and her fellow contestants get lots of control over their performances, from the song choice to the way they look.

The Wakefield songstress told us that she’d picked her live show song herself and was also in charge of her style and look, albeit with the help of a team of stylists.

“For the lives I’ve showed them the sort of stuff I would actually wear compared to the blinds or battles,” Frances reveals. “The stylists have an idea of what we wear, but if we don’t feel comfortable we can always just say.”

This weekend it’ll be the first time the public has had a say in who stays and who goes, any Frances reckons her performance on Saturday be sure to win her fans.

Asked why people should vote for her, she told us: “I think the tone of my voice and how much I go at it.

“You’re going to see on Saturday from me something you’ve never seen before. I bring out the personality in my performance, and I want everyone to think things are possible.

“I’m just a Yorkshire girl and here I am going for it.”

She added: “I wouldn’t compare myself to anyone in the charts because I want to go in there and be fresh, this competition needs something fresh.”

more from Frances:

Frances Wood has teased her first live perform on The Voice UK this weekend.

The 18-year-old Wakefield singer, part of Team Will.i.am, will be singing in front of 10 million viewers tomorrow night, but there was little hint of nerves when we caught up with her.

Speaking exclusively to TellyMix, Frances explained: “For the lives I picked this song and it’s the first one I’ve done I’ve picked myself, so I’m really looking forward to it.

“I will be able to showcase what I really do. I’ve given everything else a go and now I can show all the viewers that this is the stuff I am about.”

She added: “It’s an upbeat track and it’s a big number, I’m sure everyone will like it.”

As we revealed earlier in the week, the Voice artists have been getting dance training and classes for the live shows, and Frances is excited to incorporate that into her performance on Saturday,

“I’m doing a bit of choreography as well, so that will be interesting,” she told us.

But while some of the contestants struggled to pick up the moves, it was all very natural for Frances.

She said: “I go to a performing arts college in Wakefield, where I sometimes perform 8 in the morning until 9 at night, so I was well prepared.”

not ramping at all - just all i found - on Frances, Hannah and Sophie.

It's some of the others who are Frances fanatics.

I know you just help keep us informed and as usual I'm grateful for it

am I correct in thinking I have read that The Voice has the SCD production team working on it, and SCD is getting a new production team together for the next series?

The Voice UK contestant Hannah Berney has been asked to sing for the Queen as she tours the country to mark her Diamond Jubilee.

WTF. TCO if ever there was one.

Who

I'm not sure what the critics in the Guardian and other papers were expecting.

The judges to wear blindfolds throughout maybe.

What we haven't had is the parade of poor singers and 'freaks' for us to laugh at and the 'evil' Cowell as John Lydon described him in the week, trampling on the dreams of young talent and discarding them without a care in the world.

lol. Well not in the same numbers.

The sob stories are part of these shows now (unfortunatley). I just find it overall a much kinder show and altho all the singers aren't great. There aren't any who are totally dire and just paraded infront of the GBP so Cowell can make some cheap jokes.

Tellymix claim to have the songs btw.

Team Will

Joelle Moses – I’m Going Down (Mary J Blige)
Sophie Griffin – Titanium(David Guetta feat Sia)
Jaz Ellington – At Last (Etta James)
Frances Wood – Ain’t Nobody (Chaka Khan)
Tyler James – Higher Love (James Vincent McMorrow)

Team Tom

Sam Buttery – A Little Respect (Erasure)
Matt and Sueleen – Go Your Own Way (Fleetwood Mac)
Leanne Mitchell – Who Knew (Pink)
Adam Isaac – All My Life(Foo Fighters)
Ruth Brown – Get Here (Oleta Adams)


Read more: http://tellymix.co.uk/reality-tv/the-voice/84306-the-voice-uk-spoilers-week-1-live-show-song-choices.html#ixzz1tFFydIjs


They don't have the greatest record, so I hope Frances is wrong.

some disappointing songs