EXCLUSIVE! Set News Report!
A new search for a stand-out voice on NBC’s singing competition show “The Voice” started months ago, and in fact is winding down to the point where the live shows will soon began in September for viewers at home to make their voice heard by voting for their favorite singers.

Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images “The Voice” mentors.

Some changes have been made to the show’s original format that will keep the show fresh and interesting. Mentors Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton and Adam Levine will now have a total of sixteen contenders each on their teams. A change from last season’s twelve and the first season’s eight as explained by the show’s warm-up host on the set. From there mentors get a team of ten each, then that gets knocked-down to five. HOLLYWOOD JUNKET got a sneak-peek at one mentor’s pool of contestants when we visited the set!

(L-R) Cee Lo Green and Adam Levine

A Chance to Steal:
The Battle rounds this season provides a unique opprotunity for the mentors. Once they have each chosen who they’d like to keep and who to eliminate during this round, the other mentors get to “steal” any one of the eliminated singers giving them a second chance to stay in the competition.

Another Elimination:
Executive Producer Mark Burnett’s “The Voice” has added the element of a “Knockout” round that occurs after the “Battle” rounds. At the beginning of the Knockout round, the mentors each have ten contestants. These ten contestants come out into the boxing ring stage once more, one team at time. The mentor then pairs up who they’d like to see singing against each other. The contestants do not know until that moment on the stage who they’ll be singing against. During this Knockout round, the singers already have their songs prepared that they will perform.

And Then There Were Five:
The singers then face-off one against each other – going up in front of the mentors in pairs. Unlike the Battle round where they must sing a duet, here, they sing their song one at a time. At the end of each performance, all of the mentors give their opinions on whom they think should be the keeper talent. Then, the mentor who’s team is on stage decides who to eliminate and explains their choice. At the end of the Knockout round each mentor will have a team of five remaining under their guidance.

One talented singer, a mentor chose to keep because he wanted to develop her even more, and eliminated the most talented contestant stating “I don’t know what else I can do for you…you are going to go-on to do extremely well!”

Here’s a piece of set news for the Christina haters out there – apparently it was overheard that “Christina is nicer this season”.

Producer of “The Voice” Burnett used the audience as an opprotunity to preview his new reality action stunt show called “Stars Earn Stripes” which premieres on Monday, August 13, at the beginning of filming. The celebrity mentors had to sit through it as well.

“The Voice” returns to television in it’s third season on Monday, September 10 at 8/7c on NBC.  For hopefuls who would like to be on the show, auditions for season 4 are happening now!