The Voice of Ireland is the Irish edition of the international TV franchise The Voice, a reality singing competition created by media tycoon John de Mol. The first series began airing from 8 January 2012 on RTÉ One.[1] The coaches originally were Bressie, Sharon Corr, Kian Egan and Brian Kennedy. Kennedy left after the first series and was replaced by Jamelia. After the second series, Corr quit the show owing to other commitments and was replaced by Dolores O'Riordan. Following series 3, Dolores and Jamelia quit. The coaches for series 4 were Bressie, Una Healy, Kian Egan and Rachel Stevens. The show was hosted by Kathryn Thomas[2] and co-hosted by Eoghan McDermott, who also presented backstage show The Voice After Party in Series 3.

The Voice of Ireland
GenreReality competition
Created byJohn de Mol
Presented by
Judges
Country of originIreland
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes71
Production
ProducerScreentime Shinawil Productions
Production locationThe Helix
Running time72–104 minutes (inc. adverts)
Original release
NetworkRTÉ One
Release8 January 2012 (2012-01-08) –
24 April 2016 (2016-04-24)
Related

The series was part of The Voice franchise and was based on a similar competition format in the Netherlands entitled The Voice of Holland. The show replaced The All Ireland Talent Show. One of the important premises of the show is the quality of the singing talent. Four coaches, themselves popular performing artists, train the talents in their group and occasionally perform with them. Talents are selected in blind auditions, where the coaches cannot see, but only hear the auditioner.

The TV show "blind" auditions were held at the Helix, and were broadcast for the first five weeks of the series. The Battle Phase was broadcast over three weeks from the second week of February to the last week of February each year. The winner of the show is offered a recording contract with Universal Music Ireland worth €100,000.

The current and final holder of the crown The Voice of Ireland is the series 5 champion, Michael Lawson. To date, all five winners of the Irish version of the franchise have been males.

On 3 August 2016, it was announced that the show was going to be replaced by an Irish version of Strictly Come Dancing.[3]

History

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The show replaced The All Ireland Talent Show. The Voice of Ireland aired on RTÉ One and was produced by Screentime Shinawil Productions.

Auditions

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The Blind Auditions for Series 1 took place at The Helix, Dublin, between 26 and 31 October 2011 in front of a live audience. The first series began on 8 January 2012 and finished on 29 April 2012. The Blind auditions for Series 2 took place at The Helix, Dublin, between 21 and 25 October 2012 at The Helix.[4] The later seasons followed a very similar schedule.

Scheduling and filming

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The show took place in The Helix in Dublin. The main show aired for 90 minutes. The results show aired for 30 minutes. The show aired on Sunday nights. Filming for the Blind Auditions took place in October each year in Dublin's Helix.

Format

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The series consists of three phases:

  • Blind audition
  • Battle phase
  • Live performance shows

Blind audition

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Four coaches, all famous musicians, choose teams of artists through a blind audition process. Each coach has the length of the artists performance to decide if he or she wants that artist on his or her team (twelve in the first series, more in the second); if two or more coaches want the same artist then the singer gets to choose which coach they want to work with. An addition to the third season was that RTÉ 2fm selected 5 wildcards to audition.

Battle phase

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Each team of singers is mentored and developed by their coach. In the second stage, coaches have two of their team members battle against each other by singing the same song, with the coach choosing which team member will advance to the next stage. For the third series a new feature was added whereby if an act lost their battle, they are not immediately out of the competition. Each coach has one 'Steal' where they get the opportunity to take one losing act and have them join their team for the live shows. They do this by pressing their 'I Want You' button.

Live performance shows

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In the final phase, the remaining contestants compete against each other in live broadcasts. The television audience help to decide who moves on. When one team member remains for each coach, the contestants compete against each other in the finale.

Post-The Voice of Ireland

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The winner of the show is offered a recording contract with Universal Music Ireland worth €100,000.

Coaches and hosts

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Name Series
1 2 3 4 5
Bressie
Kian Egan
Sharon Corr
Brian Kennedy
Jamelia
Dolores O'Riordan
Rachel Stevens
Una Foden
Kathryn Thomas Presenter
Eoghan McDermott Presenter

Coaches' teams and their artists

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Key
  – Winning coach. Winners are in bold, eliminated contestants in small font.
Series Bressie Sharon Corr Kian Egan Brian Kennedy
1 Pat Byrne
Conor Quinn
Kiera Byrne
Gari Deegan
Jessica Pritzel
Gavin Kenny
Vanessa Whelan
Kim Hayden
Kevin Keeley
Nollaig O'Connor
Kellie Blaise
Fauve Chapman
Jim Devine
Sharon Gaynor
Liam Geddes
Elliot Canavan Doyle
Graham Dowling
Kyle Kennedy
Richie Hayes
Alan Fitzsimons
Brendan Keeley
Sinead Fox
Claire O'Loughlin
Ryan O'Shaughnessy
2 Bressie Sharon Corr Kian Egan Jamelia
Shannon Murphy
Katy Anna Mohan
Sinead O'Brien
Andrew Mann
Terri O'Reilly
Velvin Lamont
John Gaughan
Aoife McLoughlin
Tammy Browne
Mark Guildea
Stephen Hudson
Dean Anthony
Kelly Mongan
Shane McLaughlin
Ray Scully
Andy Mac Unfraidh
Karl Sheridan
Daryl Phillips
Keith Hanley
Wayne Beatty
Dylan Powell
Roisin Carlin
Jennifer Moore
Sophie Rischar
3 Bressie Dolores O'Riordan Kian Egan Jamelia
Brendan McCahey
Jamie Stanton
Sarah Sylvia
Ciara Donnelly
Pádraig Byrne
Kedar Friis-Lawrence
Kellie Lewis
Mariah Butler
Michelle Revins
Emma Walsh
Peter Whitford
John Hogan
Jay Boland
Paddy Molloy
Danica Holland
Laura O'Connor
Craig McMarrow
Pauric McLaughlin
Laura May Lenehan
Gavin Murray
Aisling Connolly
Remy Naidoo
Simon Cody
Martin McInerney
Daisy Valenzuela
4 Bressie Rachel Stevens Kian Egan Una Healy
Emma Humber
Denise Morgan
Kayleigh Cullinan
John O'Grady
Ashley Loftus
Laura Enright
Sarah McTernan
Kieran McKillop
Patrick Kennedy
Amy Hansard
Gemma Lomar
Cian O'Melia
John Bonham
Helena Bradley Bates
Fionn Gardner
Caoin Fitz
Ciara Monaghan
Pat Fitz
Patrick Donoghue
John Sheehy
Niall O'Halloran
Kelley McArdle
Evan Cotter
Nicola Lynch
5 Michael Lawson
Moylan Brunnock
Georgina Richmond
Laura O'Connor
Matthew Soares
Ciaran O'Driscoll
Kelesa Mulcahy
Jasmine Kavanagh
Luke Ray Lacey
Nigel Connell
Emmett Daly
Emmie Reek

Series overview

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Warning: the following table presents a significant amount of different colors.

Season Aired Winner Runner-up Third place Fourth place Winning coach Presenters Coaches (chairs' order)
1 2 3 4
1 2012 Pat Byrne Richie Hayes Vanessa Whelan Jim Devine Bressie Eoghan McDermott,
Kathryn Thomas
Bressie Sharon Kian Brian
2 2013 Keith Hanley Kelly Mongan Shane McLaughlin Shannon Murphy Jamelia Jamelia
3 2014 Brendan McCahey Kellie Lewis Laura May Lenehan Jamie Stanton Bressie Dolores
4 2015 Patrick Donoghue Emma Humber Sarah McTernan Kieran McKillop Una Healy Rachel Una
5 2016 Michael Lawson Kelesa Mulcahy Nigel Connell Laura O’Connor Bressie

Reception

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Series averages

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Series Premiere date Finale date Episodes
(inc. results shows)
Average Irish viewers
(inc. results shows)
1 8 January 2012 29 April 2012 25 597,222
2 6 January 2013 28 April 2013 17 599,411
3 5 January 2014 27 April 2014 TBA 575,767
4 4 January 2015 26 April 2015 TBA
5 3 January 2016 26 April 2016

Ratings

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RTÉ described the first ever episode as "a great ratings success" as it pulled in an average of 708,000 viewers and peaked at 1.2 million.[5] It was later reported that the first 5 episodes pulled in an average of 701,000 viewers a week.[6]

Audience ratings for the first series, initially promising, had plunged by 50% by the time the live shows were broadcast and were reported to be unfavourable when compared to ratings held by its predecessor The All Ireland Talent Show.[7]

The Voice After Party

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The Voice After Party is a spin-off show, discussing each show afterwards.[8]

Music releases by The Voice of Ireland contestants

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As of July 2016, The Voice of Ireland has had thirteen singles and four albums chart on the top 100 on the Irish Singles and Albums Charts.

Singles

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Artist Series Position in show Song title IRE release date IRE peak chart
position
Ref(s)
Pat Byrne 1 Winner "What a Wonderful World" 23 April 2012 3 [9]
Richie Hayes 1 Runner-up "One Voice" 23 April 2012 23 [9]
Vanessa Whelan 1 Third place "Who Wants to Live Forever" 23 April 2012 28 [9]
Jim Devine 1 Fourth Place "The Dance" 23 April 2012 - [10]
Pat Byrne 1 Winner "End of the World" 2 November 2012 61
Ryan O'Shaughnessy 1 Final 24 "No Name" 5 August 2012 3 [11]
Pat Byrne 1 Winner "All or Nothing" 15 March 2013 80
Kim Hayden 1 Final 8 "Warrior" 19 April 2013 - [12]
Keith Hanley 2 Winner "Beggin'" 29 April 2013 37 [13]
Kelly Mongan 2 Runner-Up "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" 29 April 2013 67 [13]
Shannon Murphy 2 Fourth Place "Ho Hey" 29 April 2013 49 [13]
Ryan O'Shaughnessy 1 Final 24 "Who Do You Love?" 2 August 2013 3 [14]
Andrew Mann 2 Final 16 "Middle Of The Dancefloor" 8 November 2013 - [15]
Keith Hanley 2 Winner "Blue" 21 February 2014 29
Brendan McCahey 3 Winner "You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover" 17 April 2014 15
Keith Hanley 2 Winner "Hush" 30 May 2014 -
Brendan McCahey 3 Winner "Sweet Love" 31 October 2014 90
Brendan McCahey 3 Winner "Safe and Well" 10 April 2015 -
Patrick Donoghue 4 Winner "Redemption Days" 17 July 2015 -
Patrick Donoghue 4 Winner "Judge My Love" 8 April 2016 -
Michael Lawson 5 Winner Revival 15 July 2016 -

Albums

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Artist Series Position in show Album title IRE release date IRE peak chart
position
Ref(s)
Pat Byrne 1 Winner "All or Nothing" 16 November 2012 10 [16]
Ryan O'Shaughnessy 1 Final 24 "Ryan O'Shaughnessy" 13 August 2012 1 [17]
Conor Quinn 1 Final 8 "Golden Kids" 20 August 2013 -
Andrew Mann 2 Final 16 "Hidden In Plain Sight" 31 December 2013 (re-release) -
Kim Hayden 1 Final 8 "Better" 14 February 2014 -
Keith Hanley 2 Winner "Hush" 7 March 2014 17
Brendan McCahey 3 Winner "To Where I Begin" 14 November 2014 20

References

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  1. ^ "The Voice of Ireland begins Sunday". RTÉ Ten. Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 6 January 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  2. ^ Finn, Melanie (2 September 2011). "How Kathryn won Voice gig by a hair's breadth". Evening Herald. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  3. ^ "RTÉ drops The Voice for Dancing with the Stars". RTÉ News. RTÉ. 3 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  4. ^ "The Voice of Ireland – RTÉ Television". RTÉ News.
  5. ^ "708,000 watch The Voice of Ireland". RTÉ Ten. Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 9 January 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  6. ^ Rogers, Kathryn (7 February 2012). "Kathryn Thomas's The Voice beats Grainne Seoige's All Ireland Talent Show in rating". The Star. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012.
  7. ^ Murphy, Claire (24 March 2012). "The Voice under strain as viewers switch off". Evening Herald. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  8. ^ "The Voice Afterparty | The Voice of Ireland". Archived from the original on 19 August 2017.
  9. ^ a b c "TOP 50 SINGLES, WEEK ENDING 26 April 2012". chart-track.co.uk. 26 April 2012. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  10. ^ "irishcharts.com - Jim Devine - The Dance".
  11. ^ "TOP 50 SINGLES, WEEK ENDING 16 August 2012". chart-track.co.uk. 16 August 2012. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  12. ^ Hung, Steffen. "irishcharts.com - Kim Hayden - Get Out Of My Life". irish-charts.com.
  13. ^ a b c "TOP 100 SINGLES, WEEK ENDING 2 May 2013". chart-track.co.uk. 2 May 2013. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  14. ^ "TOP 100 SINGLES, WEEK ENDING 8 August 2013". chart-track.co.uk. 8 August 2013. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  15. ^ Hung, Steffen. "irishcharts.com - Andrew Mann - Middle Of The Dancefloor". irish-charts.com.
  16. ^ "TOP 75 ARTIST ALBUM, WEEK ENDING 22 November 2012". chart-track.co.uk. 22 November 2012. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  17. ^ "TOP 75 ARTIST ALBUM, WEEK ENDING 16 August 2012". chart-track.co.uk. 16 August 2012.