“The Voice of Germany” amazed viewers with a new rule, the “block”. But this is anything but well received. The “The Voice” innovation has been heavily criticized on social media.
The makers probably thought they would spice up the long-established show format “The Voice of Germany” with a new rule. Thanks to a new rule, the battle between coaches for talent should become “more intense than ever.” But fans of the casting show don’t like this at all.
This is how the “block” works on “The Voice of Germany”
The “block”, as the new rule of the game is called, allows the jurors to do this Ronan Keating (46), Shirin David (28), Giovanni Zarrella (45), as well Bill and Tom Kaulitz (34) to block another coach at the same time as the decision for a talent is made, thereby preventing him or her from also trying to find the participant. The coach’s chair then turns towards the stage, but a blocked coach can no longer recruit the talent. As expected, this sparks conversation and sparks among the professionals in the jury chairs, which the show’s creators were certainly hoping for.
The “Block” already exists in the US version of the show “The Voice” and in other countries. Each coach is allowed to block the competition a maximum of three times in the “blind auditions” phase, as a spokeswoman for ProSiebenSat.1 said when asked by BUNTE.de.
The new rule unsurprisingly affected one coach in particular more often in the first episodes: the former singer of the Irish boy band “Boyzone” Ronan Keating, was repeatedly blocked by his colleagues. Desperate, Keating hung upside down from his coach’s chair when he realized that he had turned towards the stage in vain for, for example, 24-year-old Malou from Cologne and had been eliminated by the team Bill and Tom.
In addition, the talents were not always happy with the “block” even if they would have actually liked to join the team of a stopped coach.
“The Voice” annoyed by new rule: “Abolish blocking again!”
The new rule is causing dissatisfaction among many viewers, as can be seen in the comments online. On the Instagram page, for example, an outraged user demanded: “It’s time for participants to complain about not being able to go to the coach they want if they’ve been blocked. Abolish blocking next season!!!”
Another viewer agreed: “That’s a good suggestion, this rule is unfair and unnecessary.”
There are many more critical comments like this: “I don’t like blocking at all, I think it’s silly and I don’t understand the point of it! It limits the candidates in their choice of coach and in my opinion every candidate should be able to decide which one they want to go to! Please provide equal opportunities for the candidates and coaches next season!”
Criticism of new rule on “The Voice”: “Unfair and unnecessary”
“This ‘blocking’ is simply unnecessary and you are welcome to get rid of it.”
“Ronan is always blocked, I really don’t think that’s a good thing…please go back next season without blocking.”
“Blocking is such crap, the artist is deprived of a chance to go to the coach where he/she would like to go.”
Whether ProSieben and SAT.1 will stick to the “block” in the coming season or possibly withdraw the innovation remains unclear for the time being. But it wouldn’t be the first time that a new rule in the casting show was canceled after one season.
“The Voice of Germany”: New rules have previously been dropped after criticism
For example, there was great outrage in 2016 when the coaches didn’t even turn towards the stage for eliminated participants after their performances and the disappointed ones instead had to leave without any feedback. Numerous viewers condemned this as “disrespectful” – and the makers reacted.
The new rule in 2021 was also not well received, as three talents per team, rather than just two, had to compete against each other in the battle phase and one of them was eliminated in the coaching phase. So even before the actual battle started. This innovation only lasted for one season.
So it will be exciting to see what decisions will be made regarding “Block” in the future.
