Sir Tom Jones, 84, delivers verdict as ITV The Voice replacement confirmed following LeAnn Rimes exit
Sir Tom Jones seems to have given his stamp of approval over his new The Voice co-star, who was confirmed on Tuesday as LeAnn Rimes’ replacement.
The singer, 84, has been a coach on the ITV talent show since its launch in 2012, and has sat alongside a few different faces on the coaching team over the years.
Last year, the panel consisted of Jones, McFly stars Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones, will.i.am and country singer LeAnn Rimes.
Rimes won’t be returning for this year’s series, and instead former Destiny’s Child star Kelly Rowland will be in the all-important judging seat, responsible for selecting which singers make it through to the next round and eventually coaching her own team of hopefuls.
She’s A Lady hitmaker Jones seems to have thrown his support behind the replacement on Tuesday after the official Instagram account for The Voice shared the update.
Jones, along with co-star Danny Jones, gave the post a like and the singer also re-shared it to his own page.
The post showed each coach and was captioned: “Kelly… can you handle this? Meet the Coaches newest recruit when The Voice UK returns.”
Rowland isn’t a stranger to the series, having been the judge on the Australian version of the show from 2017 to 2020.
Emma Willis, along with the coaches, will be returning to front the series as presenter once again.
Also reacting to the post, several fans expressed their delight at Rowland joining the panel, and many others gushed over Jones’ continuing commitment to the show.
“What a good choice! Kelly Rowland had formed Little Mix, so hopefully she can form another girl group,” one shared.
“Kelly was a fantastic coach on the voice Australia. She would really do incredibly well as a coach in the voice UK. Kindly bring back the battles and knockouts too,” a second echoed.
“Kelly was [really] good in Australia, have high hopes for this years series!” someone else enthused, with another adding: “Yeees Kelly Rowland. One of my fav [coaches] on The Voice.”
Meanwhile, a Jones fan commented: “I am so HAPPY that Sir #tomjones is back. I was scared when there was some gossip last year that they wanted him gone. Ladies and Gentlemen TOM JONES is the original LEGEND!
“And I mean L-E-G-E-N-D…#thevoiceuk. He is still the one that the younger ones want him as a coach. IMHO. #delilah.”
“I will be rooting for you, Sir Tom. I love seeing you on this. Can’t wait. Come on Team Tom! X,” someone else enthused.
Quite a few fans also demanded for a change to last year’s series to be reversed. In the 2024 series, it was confirmed the famous “battles” had been removed.
The battles used to see each coach pitting their singers against each other with a song and choosing the strongest of them, but this element of the show was removed last year, sparking disgruntled viewers to complain online.
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It seems they still aren’t pleased, with some going as far as to say they won’t be watching unless they bring back the competitive and brutal feature.
On her sign up to the show, Rowland stated: “I am excited to join The Voice UK as a coach, and am looking forward to working with the excellent and passionate coaches the show is known for. I can’t wait to hear all the new talent and to go to battle for my team. Let’s go!”