Blake Shelton Threatens Fans To “Kiss Their Collective Butt” IF…
NBC Reading Time: 3 minutes
Monday night on The Voice, Blake Shelton declared that he would kiss America’s “collective butts” if his artist Ricky Duran doesn’t make it to the Season 17 finale.
Based on Ricky’s track record on the show, he certainly seems to be a frontrunner this season. However, we can’t say he’s a sure thing to win the show yet. Let’s take a look at his time in the competition, and what might affect his chances.
Can Ricky Duran Win ‘The Voice’?
Ricky turned all four coaches’ chairs in his blind audition. But he’s not the only four-chair turn still left in the competition. Katie Kadan and Marybeth Byrd on Team Legend also turned all four chairs.
Much like Katie and Marybeth, Ricky has coasted through the competition with very few setbacks. He was chosen as the winner in both the Battle and Knockout rounds, and he hasn’t been up for the Instant Save during the live shows.
However, artist Jake Hoot on Team Kelly has also emerged as a frontrunner, thanks to the Apple Music Bonus. For two weeks in a row, his song was the most-streamed track among the artists. That means that his number of streams (which count as votes) was multiplied by five.
This suggests that Jake is enormously popular among viewers, so he could end up with the most votes in the finale. But his popularity on Apple Music is especially significant, because streams on that platform count toward the final total for artists in the finale. That’s an incredibly important market to corner this season.
Is Blake Shelton’s Winning Streak Over?
Blake loves to tell new artists on the show that he’s won The Voice six times, as a selling point for joining his team. He’s also been on the show since the first season, and has therefore coached a lot of artists over the years. But is being on Team Blake really a sign that you’ll go far?
Blake hasn’t won since Season 13, with Chloe Kohanski. Since then, new coaches Kelly Clarkson and John Legend have both beat him (twice for Kelly). He and girlfriend Gwen Stefani also have the fewest artists on their teams this season. They each have two team members left, while Kelly and John each have three.
While Ricky Duran is undeniably talented, and Blake Shelton has had a lot of success on The Voice, it’s too soon to call them the favorites to win. However, we wouldn’t be surprised if Blake’s prediction is correct and Ricky makes it to the finale.
