Legendary Singer Issues Choice Words Over Shocking Departure From ‘The Voice UK’

First airing in 2011, The Voice has gained widespread popularity across 13 years and 26 seasons. The Voice UK aired one year later, making quite the splash across the pond. Season 13 kicked off Aug. 31, featuring will.i.am. Sir Tom Jones, LeAnn Rimes, Tom Fletcher, and Danny Jones as coaches. Sir Tom Jones was among the original coaching lineup, so far appearing on all but one season. British pop star Paloma Faith took over the “What’s New Pussycat” singer’s chair during season 5, which aired in early 2016. And it seems that the change-up was not Jones’ decision. The Welsh singer, 84, has spoken witheringly of the decision to replace him.

Sir Tom Jones Calls the BBC a “Cold Place”

Sir Tom Jones has said he didn’t learn he had been dropped from The Voice UK until a month before he was set to begin filming his fifth season.

“To say I was shocked is to put it mildly,” the GRAMMY winner wrote in his 2016 autobiography, Over The Top and Back.

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“But my shock wasn’t about the fact they had replaced me,” he continued. “My shock was about the way they did it.”

Jones admitted that he, nor anyone, “has the right to think of themselves as a permanent fixture.” However, he says that BBC executives refused to elaborate on their decision, saying simply he was “out of contract.”

“Indisputable as a bald statement of fact, I guess,” Jones said. “But what a cold place the BBC is. Sometimes you wonder whether it is run by humans or a machine in the basement.”

He Would Eventually Return

Fortunately for Tom Jones, he didn’t stay away long. The Voice UK stopped airing on the BBC after season 5, moving to ITV in 2017. Jones returned to his chair alongside will.i.am, Jennifer Hudson and Gavin Rossdale. He has remained there ever since.

And if the “She’s a Lady hitmaker” has his way, that won’t change anytime soon. In a recent interview with The Sun, Jones vowed to sit in his red chair “as long as I’m alive.”

As long as people want me, as long as they do, because I love it and I don’t want to overstay my welcome,” Jones said.

Featured image by ITV/Rachel Joseph/Shutterstock