COVID-19 restrictions have affected almost every aspect of season 19 of The Voice -- so much so that Gwen Stefani almost forgot she was allowed to kiss her own fiancé!
The Knockout Rounds kicked off on Tuesday, where singers from each team went head-to-head with songs of their own choosing. After nearly being brought to tears when she had to choose between two amazing performances from her own team members earlier in the show -- narrowly picking Payge Turner over Ryan Berg -- Gwen was faced with another tough call when she became the first coach to use her Knockout Round steal.
Blake Shelton had a difficult decision of his in the Knockouts, pitting country crooner Ben Allen against family trio Worth the Wait. When Blake chose to save Worth the Wait, following their harmonic cover of "Delta Dawn," Gwen helped him out, stealing Allen to her team and keeping him in the competition -- much to her beau's delight.
"Ben had one of my favorite performances," the No Doubt singer said of her decision. "I feel excited to have country on my team. I'm on country radio right now with Blake Shelton, so it just feels right."
However, when Blake jumped up to hug her, Gwen was taken aback for a second. "Oh, we can make out!" she exclaimed to her now-fiancé. "I forgot!"
The singing competition looks a little different this season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with safety glass distancing the coaches and team members and separate performances spaces on stage. But Stefani noted ahead of the season how excited the coaches were to be back in any capacity, bringing some music and joy into people's lives.
"I think that being able to sit down and watch a show that's so inspiring and will bring inspiration to people, it will definitely bring joy," she shared. "Music is the heartbeat of human beings, so I feel really blessed to be here and to be a part of that and to be able to connect around America on the TV."
"Maybe the reason there's so much talent is that a lot of people are kind of paused and they get to kind of, you know, follow the dream in a way they didn't get to because maybe they're working or they were in school," Stefani added. "I think there's kind of a different kind of group of people this time because of the opportunity that we are all paused in the world right now."
The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. PT/ET on NBC. See more on this season in the video below.
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