Will blasts ITV’s new show style

WILL.I.AM has let rip at ITV bosses for making The Voice tougher on contestants.

Acts who fail to impress will now be forced to leave the stage without even seeing the coaches.

It means they won’t get any feedback like they did during its four years on the BBC.

Will, 41, agreed to return to the panel for its debut on ITV but is unhappy with the new format. He said: “I don’t personally like that change. If there are no turns that person walks away with no feedback. We talk about it among ourselves.”

Speaking about his experience in the music industry, he added: “Even when no one liked our demo when we were shopping it they gave us criticism on how to improve.

“From that, it changed my writing. I was like ‘I’m going to be the hook man’. It changed my perspective. The contestants won’t get that. “The producers said it’s OK to talk among yourselves because they’re going to watch it on TV and hear your feedback. I was like ‘That’s different though’.”

US singer Jennifer Hudson, 35, who has joined the panel, backed Will.

She said: “I agree with him. I think feedback is needed – a conversation is needed.”

Will has been a coach on The Voice since it launched in 2012 but didn’t feel he could step in over the changes. He said: “I’m not that kind of person…I’m not going to tell them how to make the show better.”

The new series started filming in Manchester last Wednesday with the blind auditions. The panel also includes Sir Tom Jones, 76, and Bush rocker Gavin Rossdale, 50. Tom starred on the show for four years but was missing from the panel on the fifth series earlier this year after he was axed by the BBC.

Will revealed he engineered Tom’s return by giving ITV an ultimatum. He said: “They asked me while we were doing the BBC show. When the show finished I said ‘Is Tom doing it?’. I said ‘If you bring Tom back, I’ll be cool, I’ll consider that’.”