Blake Shelton Says He Doesn’t Miss ‘The Voice’: “I Stayed Too Long”

It sounds like there isn’t much love lost with Blake Shelton and The Voice. The country music icon recently admitted that he hasn’t gotten to the point yet where he quite misses being on the show.

“Not yet. I did that for 23 seasons,” Shelton said. “To be totally honest about it, I wasn’t even planning on being there that long.”

Fans of The Voice probably shouldn’t expect Shelton to make a return appearance any time soon. It sounds like Shelton is enjoying his retirement from the red chair. Appearing on The Jennifer Hudson Show, Shelton fielded questions on whether he missed starring on the show. The Voice is currently airing its first season without him; Niall Horan, Reba McEntire, Shelton’s wife Gwen Stefani, and John Legend are the current coaches.

Shelton ended up starring on the show for 13 seasons, but if he had his way, he probably would have left a little bit sooner. Although true to form, Shelton would have only shaved a season or two off his current record and not bow out early.

“I was planning on wrapping it up around 20 seasons or 21 seasons,” Shelton said. “And then COVID hit, and then I didn’t want to walk out on the show in the middle of COVID, and them trying to scramble and figure out what to do. So I stayed. I didn’t have anything else to do anyway. So I stayed a little bit longer, but I stayed too long for me to now miss it.”

For a while there, it looked like Shelton may stay on the show until it reached its natural conclusion. However, he revealed the real reason he left on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Shelton realized that he wanted to spend more time with his family and less time on the show.

However, this created an awkward scenario when his wife decided to return to the show. Fortunately, Shelton took it all with his signature sense of humor.

“I think I’d actually put it out to the press, because everybody wants to know ‘Why are you quitting, why are you walking away from the show,’” Shelton said. “And it’s like, well, for the family, you know, for more family time. And then the very next announcement was ‘Gwen’s coming back!’ So, maybe she doesn’t want too much family time, I don’t know.”

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