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Guy Sebastian on unfair battle: “I didn’t handle it well”

The Voice coach takes to social media after a blow-up over a battle that favoured one vocalist.


The Voice coach Guy Sebastian has taken to social media to express regret over a battle he staged between two singers, which caused controversy last night.

US-born singer Johnny Manuel and Mongolian folk singer Bukhu Ganburged performed Michael Jackson’s Earth Song as a duet.

But judges Kelly Rowland and Delta Goodrem insisted it was not a fair fight, with Johnny Manuel dominating the vocals, while Bukhu Ganburged was largely playing a traditional horse fiddle.

“I didn’t at all feel it was fair. I’m confused how Bukhu felt in that situation. He was backing you and that’s it,” said Goodrem. “That’s not a battle. That’s not fair.”

Guy Sebastian defended pairing the two saying “I just want to make great moments. I don’t care about a battle element. I care about both of you shining.”

In true TV drama, Kelly Rowland even walked off set, exasperated with Sebastian’s argument.

“I’m not going back and forth with you,” she said. “I’m not doing it.”

Bukhu was also lost for words over the balance of the performance. “Honestly, I don’t know….”

Last night Sebastian ate humble pie….

It follows Sebastian breaching the show’s rules last week by selecting a singer when his team was full.

In a show where the Coaches are given far more airtime than the singers, it all makes for good TV fireworks, headlines and ratings.

Is it authentic? It’s TV.

11 Responses

  1. I watched both performances (his audition and this battle) and I thought he had a great singing voice, but you can’t put a belter up against a non-belter in a belty song, it’s not fair. It was fundamentally a bad matchup, you need to put him with another folksy singer. There’s so many different types of voices and it’s not just about who’s the loudest. I cannot believe Guy would publicly dump on his own mentee like that, literally saying that he can’t sing and that he was doing him a favour by not letting him sing. He’s like “oh but he got to play an instrument” but let’s be real, it’s called The Voice…you were never going to choose someone based on an instrument and its clear from your comments where you stand on Bukhu.

    Good TV though!

  2. I think it’s time for 4 brand new coaches. Nothing against the current coaches, but The Voice is looking tired this year. Too much made up “drama”. Nine get your cheque book out & give us a great The Voice in 2021.

  3. Judges fighting is all staged. It’s what the producers think the crowd wants. Be careful though. Look what happened when MKR started staging fights and manufacturing drama! People are not as stupid as they used to be.

  4. I am just wondering what song Guy could have given them that Johnny Manuel wouldn’t beat Bukhu with in voice terms? I remember the guy that won with the synthesizer thing. He wasn’t the best singer by far.

    1. Yep, it’s why I think Kelly is on shaky ground with her outrage. She got that musician all the way to the win but he didn’t have a great voice and was not on an even playing field competition wise as everyone else only had their natural voice to work with.

  5. Guy Sebastian is not equipped to be a judge after what I saw last night. He just didn’t get what Delta and Kelly were saying and showed so much arrogance. A bangles song would have done the job with a 50/50 share of voice with both genres shining through. If Delta can do it so well with an opera singer how come Guy can’t manage. Thank god he isn’t a music teacher at my kids school.

  6. I don’t watch much of The Voice at all, because it is all about the judges. I’m a fan of Guy Sebastian, he is an amazing talent and breathes music, and I’m disappointed he is involved in such a crappy show.

  7. It is interesting that Guy felt the need to post this. I don’t think he did anything wrong. It was a pile on from Kelly and Delta. Given he had to match Bukkhu with someone, whomever he did, it would be an odd pairing. All 4 coaches would have had the dilemma. I thought in the main, Guy prosecuted his argument really well but Kelly’s doggedness to push made for a protracted argument that was tense, awkward and not good TV in my opinion. But it is about the egos of the 4 often more than the singers.

    More drama tonight for Guy.

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