By: Courtney Vaudreuil
It’s time to start making your bets. THE VOICE is heading into the Knock Out round, where only five contestants on each team will advance to the live shows. In advance of the next round, theTVaddict.com discussed with members of Team Blake and Team Adam their thoughts on their coaches, and who they think is their biggest competition on the other teams.
When asked what judges Blake Shelton and Adam Levine are really like behind the scenes, team members had nothing but positive comments. For Team Blake, Cassadee Pope and Michaela Paige gushed about the country darling. Cassadee explains, “[H]e’s hilarious and he is a – maybe something a little surprising would be how nurturing he is. He’s really there for you if you have questions, if you are feeling a little uneasy about something or you need some advice.”
“[Y]ou see, you know, these four superstars,” Michaela agrees. “[Y]ou don’t really think that they’re as invested as they really are, but they have our best interests in mind.”
Team Adam members Loren Allred and Nicole Nelson had similarly high praise for their coach. “There’s really no difference between when the cameras are rolling and then when they’re not, with how he’s acting with you,” says Loren.
“I think that maybe sometimes Adam comes across very cocky because people always say that to me,” Nicole adds. To the contrary, Adam “goes out of his way to maybe even to be very polite and very engaging and funny and disarming to sort of break that barrier right away and it’s pretty great.”
As for their feelings on the competition, there are definitely some who have them nervous about the upcoming rounds.
For Cassadee, “Trevin [Hunte] is scary as hell. He is ridiculous. And, I mean, I guess just for me, him or – and Amanda [Brown]. They’re forces to be reckoned with.”
Michaela also feels Trevin is a major threat, “I definitely have to agree with Cassadee on that one.” But, she explains that they are just learning more about their fellow competitors. “We really didn’t know how everybody sounded until we were able to watch the blind auditions and we were able to watch the battles.”
Loren and Nicole have their eyes on Team CeeLo’s Avery Wilson. “He totally is a prodigy,” says Loren, “[a]nd he’s, like, how do you – he’s a superstar already. He’s like 16 and he’s just, you know, he’s just like just oozing superstar.”
Team Adam member Joe Kirkland is more concerned about Team CeeLo’s MacKenzie Bourg. “MacKenzie is going to be the one that’s tough to beat because, I mean, he looks exactly like Harry Potter and Justin Bieber combined. . . .”
Heading into the next round, it’s starting to look like Team CeeLo is the one to beat, but it’s too early to count anyone out. To see whether Cassadee, Michaela, Loren, Nicole, and Joe survive the Knock Out round, tune in to THE VOICE beginning Monday, October 29th at 8PM on NBC (CTV in Canada). 
