Blake Shelton Says Third Time Is a Charm for 'The Voice'

Posted Sep 11th 2012 3:00PM by Gayle Thompson
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Blake Shelton graced our TV sets once again with his charm and humor last night (Sept. 10) for the Season 3 premiere of NBC's "The Voice." The coach, joins Cee Lo Green, Maroon 5's Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera as celebrity mentors, is pleased with the latest installment of the hit show.

"I honestly believe it's better than ever this year," the "Over" singer explained on the "Today" show. "It was hard for me on Season 2 to compare it to Season 1, because it was all brand new and so exciting ... how do you compare it? Season 3, it really does trump both the first two seasons for so many different reasons. There's been a lot of rule changes, and the coaches, we've all had our fights and got back together again. It seems like it's made us, as a group, that much tighter. We all have each others' backs when it's time to, and we're stabbing each other in the back when it's time to also."

The Oklahoma native assures that giving each other a hard time is all in good fun. "What's funny is the only time we really trash talk is when I'm sitting here doing something like this [interview], or one of the other three are doing an interview, then I'll hear them [mouthing] off about me," he laughs. "I saw Adam making fun of me on Jay Leno the other night, and it's like, 'He never does that to my face. What a wuss.'"

Mr. Miranda Lambert became last season's winning coach, when his team member, Jermaine Paul, was crowned the Season 2 champ in May. With Adam winning the first season (with contestant Javier Colon), that leaves Cee Lo and Christina without a win to their credit -- a fact Blake reminds them of often.

"It started irritating not only the other coaches, but the production staff, network people. Everybody was like, 'Oh yeah, you won? You haven't mentioned that,'" Blake notes, before teasing, "I'm sure they feel pretty crappy about it. They let not only themselves down, also their teammates ... America, their families, their friends. I mean, it's got to be embarrassing to be Cee Lo or Christina at this point."

All kidding aside, the country music superstar acknowledges there are times he turned around in the famous red swivel chair, only to immediately regret his decision. "Sometimes you'll turn around and you'll realize right off the bat when somebody starts talking that they have an ego, or a lot of different reasons," Blake explains. "Or you'll hit your button and they still have 30 seconds left of the song and they start sucking really bad, and you're like 'Oh, my God! Turn me back around!' But that's part of the fun of the show. You never know. You just never know."

"The Voice" will continue its three-night premiere tonight (Sept. 11) and tomorrow night (Sept. 12) at 8:00 PM ET on NBC.

Watch Adam's Impression of Blake on 'The Tonight Show'