Nicky Byrne Philippines™

Westlife singer being lined up to host the station’s new talent show.

WESTLIFE star Nicky Byrne has emerged as the favourite to present RTE’s new talent show The Voice. This will be RTE’s main weapon in the autumn to combat TV3′s weekend X Factor special.

TV3 is planning to show the US X Factor on Friday nights and the UK version on Friday and Saturdays. RTE has previously relied on the All Ireland Talent Show (AITS) on Sunday evenings as its main variety show, it having replaced You’re A Star.

However, RTE has ditched AITS and despite its Grainne Seoige host going for an audition during the week for The Voice, we hear the Galway beauty is not a shoo-in.

Presenter

An RTE source claims Montrose management and the Dutch producers of The Voice are angling to get Nicky Byrne on board.
Nicky has turned out to be a consummate presenter of the Childline children’s concert and is thought to have a bright future in broadcasting whenever Westlife reach its ends.

and Imelda May are said to be too busy for the role, but others in the frame to be mentors include the likes of Andrew Strong, Samantha Mumba, Tommy Fleming and Niall Breslin.

The BBC has also commissioned The Voice, with Cheryl Cole rumoured to be considering jumping on board, having severed her links with the X Factor.

The Voice has proved to be a huge hit in America since it first aired last April and was won by Javier Colon. Its judges in the US include Christina Aguilera (inset, right), Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, while its judge is Carson Daly.

The series consists of three phases: a blind audition, a battle phase and live performance shows. Four judges/coaches, all recording artists, choose teams of contestants through a blind audition process.

Coach

Each judge has the length of the auditioner’s performance (about one minute) to decide if he or she wants that singer on his or her team; if two or more judges want the same singer (as happens frequently), the singer has the final choice of coach.

Each team of singers is mentored and developed by its respective coach. In the second stage, called the battle phase, coaches have two of their team members battle against each other directly by singing the same song together, with the coach choosing which team member to advance from each of four individual “battles” into the first live round.

Within that first live round, the surviving four acts from each team again compete head-to-head, with public votes determining one of two acts from each team that will advance to the final eight, while the coach chooses which of the remaining three acts comprises the other performer remaining on the team.

In the final phase, the remaining contestants (Final compete against each other in live broadcasts. The television audience and the coaches have equal say 50/50 in deciding who moves on to the final 4 phase.

With one team member remaining for each coach, the (final 4) contestants compete against each other in the finale with the outcome decided solely by public vote.

Source: sundayworld.com