The Voice entered the final round of battles with coaches will.i.am and Ricky Wilson having just one “steal” left. Boy George and Paloma Faith had used up all their chances to swoop in and “steal” an act that lost their battle round.
And it was Will who was grinning from ear to ear after he took Eli Carroll from George’s team.
Eli lost her battle round with Leighton Jones, singing “If I Were Your Woman” by Gladys Knight & The Pips.
George wanted Eli to “bust a gut and dig deep” in her performance and didn’t think she did.
“As much as I love you, Eli, I have to go with my Welsh Stevie Wonder and take Leighton through,” George told her.
Leighton and Eli were both winners in their Team George battle as will.i.am stole Eli for his team
“I loved it,” said Ricky. “I don’t have any steals left and I should have waited because both of you deserve to go further. I totally believed your performance.”
But Eli, also from Wales, wasn’t finished…
“Two Welsh people with so much soul,” Will said. “What do they put in the water there?
“I held out for Eli and am really happy George left her for a steal.”
Will George regret that?
It took Ricky’s one remaining “steal” to keep former Liberty X singer Kevin Simm in the contest.
Ricky stole Kevin from Paloma for his team, keeping Kevin's dream of a comeback alive
Kevin was singing against Faith Nelson on Team Paloma and she felt “they could both win the competition”.
But after their performance of Jennifer Hudson’s “Spotlight”, Paloma chose to keep Faith on her team.
“I feel I can give more to Faith,” Paloma explained, telling Kevin: “You’re gonna get stolen.”
And she was right.
“I really think Kevin deserves his shot,” said Ricky, as he added him to his team. “But I’ve never taken a ‘steal’ through to the finals before…”
It was Harry Styles-lookalike Tom Rickles that Will felt deserved to win his battle with Colleen Gormley after they sang Wham!’s “Everything She Wants”.
Team Will lost Colleen when she lost her battle with Tom and exited the contest
“I wish I could take you both through but I can’t so the winner of this battle is Tom,” said Will. “He delivered in every meaning of that sentence.”
Paloma listened to Ricky’s advice after her team’s battle between Deano and Megan Reece, who sang Macy Gray’s “I Try” – then ignored it.
“Deano has a unique voice but Megan is the definition of a safe pair of hands singing-wise,” Ricky told Paloma. “You know she could sing anything. I would take Megan through.”
Deano stayed on Team Paloma and Megan went home
Will also said he would take Megan.
“I’m going to take Deano through,” Paloma said.
Vangelis got on to George’s team by singing one of his songs, “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?”, in the blind auditions. In his battle round, he sang U2’s “One” against Melissa Cavanagh.
"Beautiful singer" Vangelis knocked out Melissa in the Team George battle
“Vangelis, you’re a beautiful singer. I asked Melissa to bring out her inner Janis Joplin. Based on this performance I have to go with my emotions and so Vangelis is going through.”
Click here for our picture special which has the results of all the battles from this show.
The Voice continues with the start of the knockout rounds on BBC1, Saturday, March 12, 7.30pm.
