Reba McEntire to replace Blake Shelton on "The Voice"

NBC's hit signing completion, "The Voice" has found its replacement for Blake Shelton, who is exiting the show after this season ends. Country music icon Reba McEntire will join the show as the newest coach for Season 24, which will air this fall. McEntire will join the show alongside returning coaches Gwen Stefani, John Legend and Niall Horan.

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McEntire has a long history with The Voice, having served as Shelton’s first-ever team advisor way back in Season 1. She also briefly coached contestants during Season 8 and is currently serving as a mega mentor this season, but this will be the first time that she will sit in the red chair as a coach.

Shelton is the was one of the four original coaches when the show first premiered on NBC in 2011, along with Christina Aguilera, CeeLo Green and Adam Levine. Green left the show after Season 5, Aguilera after Season 10 and Shelton's best buddy, Adam Levine left in Season 16. He is the only coach to have participated in all 23 seasons of The Voice and he is the winningest coach, with 8 of his vocalists winning the title of The Voice.

According to People.com, McEntire said that she'd actually been asked to be a coach on the first season of the series, but that she turned it down. Her spot ultimately went to Blake Shelton. "It is very true. It was a very popular show in Holland, I'm pretty sure, and I watched the tape, and I said, 'No, I'm going to pass on that,' because I don't think I could ever be able to tell somebody that they're terrible or go find another job or hope you like your nighttime job. I couldn't do that day in and day out. I just couldn't do it. So, I did pass on it. But later, she admitted she regretted her decision. "I mean, after you see a very successful show that's been running, what, 15 years? Uh, yeah! I'm like shoot, I should have done that."

So, I guess that Red Chair has now come full circle.