The Voice of Poland is a Polish reality talent show that premiered on September 3, 2011, on the TVP 2 television network. The Voice of Poland is part of the international syndication The Voice based on the reality singing competition launched in the Netherlands as The Voice of Holland, created by Dutch television producer John de Mol.
Selection process and format
The Blind Auditions
The blind auditions feature approximately 100 contestants who were selected during non-televised production pre-castings. At the beginning of the performance, the coaches have their backs turned to the participants, and if one of the coaches wants to take on a participant, they press their buttons and turn around to the singer who is automatically placed on his team. If more than one coach is turned around, the singer chooses the coach they want to work with. In the first four seasons and from the tenth, blind auditions end with the selection of 12 contestants. The size of the teams, however, varied over the seasons (13 in seasons 5 and 9; 14 in seasons 6 to 8; and 15 in season 14).
From the eleventh season during blind auditions, each coach can "block" another. The coach against whom the block was used loses the chance to invite that participant to their team. Each coach can use this feature only twice. If a coach uses a "block" against another coach and they do not turn around - the "block" is considered unused; this means that the block can be used as long as the coach who uses it actually "blocks" someone. "Block" buttons can be used both during and after a contestant's performance. In the fourteenth season, coaches will be able to use their block button only after a contestant's performance, unlike in the previous seasons.
The Battles round
This is followed by battles in which the coaches choose two people from their team (when the number of participants in a team is uneven, one of the battles is played by a trio, not a duo) who sing the same song together. The coach decides who moves on to the next stage and who drops out of the program. In the first season, coaches were assisted by invited specialists who were supposed to help them make the decision. From the second season onwards, the other coaches can make a "steal", i.e. take the loser to their team (by pressing their button). If more than one coach wants to steal a participant, that participant has the right to choose which team they want to go to.
In the seventh season, the "stealing" system has changed to what is known as the "hot chairs". Each coach can ultimately steal only one contestant (who sits on the hot seat assigned to that coach's team), because when "stealing" another contestant, the previously stolen person is replaced and dropped out of the competition; from the seventh to ninth seasons, each coach could steal (press the button and take over a contestant) up to three times, but from the tenth season, coaches can press the button to steal a contestant without any limitations. The battles therefore end with seven participants advancing to the next stage. During the ninth season, there was the first ever elimination of all participants from a team in one battle.
In season 14, battles have been divided into 2 parts: pre-battle and the main battle. During the pre-battle, the coaches pick three of their artists in a singing match and then select two of them to advance to the main battle to perform as a duo. During the main battle, the winning artists will battle once again, performing a different song. The coach select one of them to advance to the next round, while the other will be eliminated. At the end of this round, five artists will remain on each team. For the first time since the inaugural season, there are no steals during the battles round.
The Knockouts round
The battles are followed by the knockout round (in the first edition: overtime), in which the coaches eliminate more people who do not advance to the live episodes. During first six seasons, each of the coaches selected three people from his or her team (six people in the first season, seven people in the second season, eight people in seasons three to five, and nine people in the sixth season) who automatically qualified for the live shows. The coaches divided the others into threes (into two duos by the second season), and one person from each would move on to the next stage. Since the seventh season, all contestants have to sing - the first four from each team are automatically put in the hot seats, and after subsequent performances of the remaining three, the coach decides whether a given contestant stays in the show or not. Four (five in the first, second and sixth seasons) finalists from each team qualify for the live episodes. In the fourteenth season, five contestants will compete for the place in the live shows, but only four of them will advance to the next stage.
The Live Shows
When the teams consist of five, four, or three contestants, the coach chooses from among the two contestants with the fewest votes from the viewers (who decide by sending text messages) the person who drops out of the show. Each live episode ends with the elimination of one person from each group. In eleventh season due to the coronavirus pandemic episodes were previously recorded and the elimination rules were changed. Once all participants from a given team sang their songs, the coaches scored the performances, awarding them from one to ten points. The coach of that team would then select one participant to move on to the next stage (regardless of the score). The participant with the lowest number of points was eliminated from the remaining three or two (in case of a tie, the points from the coach of the evaluated team were decisive).
In the semi-finals (when the team is made up of two people), the coach divides 100 points between the contestants and then everyone is credited with as many points as the percentage of votes they get from the viewers. In the fifth season, while the semi-final took the form of what is known in the international format as "Cross Battles", which involved contestants dueling between teams. In the semi-final of the eleventh season the deciding factor was the total number of points awarded by all the coaches.
For season 16, selected singers (prior to the Live elimination rounds) are put through to the "Comeback Stage" (which would be mentored by a fifth coach) and competed in a series of duels for a place in the live shows.
The Final
Four participants (one from each team, with the exception of the fifth season), and the winner is chosen by viewers in an SMS vote. Voting is divided into three rounds; after each round, the person with the fewest number of votes drops out. In the first round the finalists sing a foreign language song followed by a duet with their coach; in the second round the repertoire consists of Polish songs; in the third round the remaining two contestants sing their own songs. In the fourteenth season all contestants who will advance to the live shows will sing along with the finalists.
In season 16, the number of finalists was increased from 4 to 5, one from each team (along with the finalist from the "Comeback Stage" feature introduced in the season).
Coaches Timeline
+ Color key Featured as a full-time coach. Featured as the Comeback Stage coach. Featured as a contestant.
+ Timeline of coaches Coach Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Ania Dąbrowska colspan="16" Nergal colspan="16" Kayah colspan="16" Andrzej Piaseczny colspan="4" colspan="3" colspan="9" Tomson & Baron colspan="7" colspan="8" Justyna Steczkowska colspan="2" colspan="6" colspan="3" colspan="3" Marek Piekarczyk colspan="4" colspan="6" colspan="3" colspan="3" Patrycja Markowska colspan="6" colspan="8" Maria Sadowska colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="3" colspan="9" Edyta Górniak colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="4" colspan="6" Natalia Kukulska colspan="6" colspan="10" Michał Szpak colspan="7" colspan="4" colspan="3" colspan="3" Grzegorz Hyży colspan="8" colspan="8" Piotr Cugowski colspan="8" colspan="8" Kamil Bednarek colspan="9" colspan="7" Margaret colspan="9" colspan="5" Urszula Dudziak colspan="10" colspan="6" Sylwia Grzeszczak colspan="11" colspan="5" Lanberry colspan="2" colspan="9" colspan="3" colspan="2" Kuba Badach colspan="14" colspan="3" Ania Karwan colspan="6" colspan="8" Edyta Bartosiewicz colspan="16"
Gallery
Line-up of coaches + Coaches' line-up by chairs order Season Year Coaches 1 2 3 4 1 2011 Andrzej Kayah Nergal Ania 2 2013 Justyna Tomson & Baron Patrycja Marek 3 Edyta Maria 4 2014 Marek Justyna Tomson & Baron Maria 5 Tomson & Baron Edyta Justyna Marek 6 2015 Maria Edyta Andrzej 7 2016 Natalia Andrzej Maria 8 2017 Andrzej Maria Michał Baron 9 2018 Grzegorz Patrycja Piotr 10 2019 Michał Tomson & Baron Margaret Kamil 11 2020 Edyta Michał Ula Tomson & Baron 12 2021 Sylwia Tomson & Baron Justyna Marek 13 2022 Tomson & Baron Justyna Lanberry 14 2023 15 2024 Lanberry Kuba Michał 16 2025 Margaret 17 2026 Kuba Tomson & Baron Edyta
Hosts Timeline
+ Color key Featured as a main host. Featured as a backstage host. Featured as a contestant.
+ Timeline of main hosts Host Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Hubert Urbański colspan="16" Magdalena Mielcarz colspan="3" colspan="12" Tomasz Kammel colspan="13" colspan="3" Marika colspan="3" colspan="13" Halina Mlynkova colspan="5" colspan="11" Barbara Kurdej-Szatan colspan="6" colspan="3" colspan="8" Maciej Musiał colspan="8" colspan="2" colspan="3" colspan="3" Małgorzata Tomaszewska colspan="10" colspan="2" colspan="4" Paulina Chylewska colspan="14" colspan="3" Mateusz Szymkowiak colspan="16" Iga Krefft colspan="15" Marta Siurnik colspan="2" colspan="3" colspan="12" ReZigiusz colspan="5" colspan="11" Łukasz Jakóbiak colspan="6" colspan="10" Marcelina Zawadzka colspan="7" colspan="7" Krzysztof Jankowski colspan="8" colspan="8" Adam Zdrójkowski colspan="9" colspan="2" colspan="6" Wiktoria Gąsiewska colspan="9" colspan="7" Ewa Zawada colspan="10" colspan="6" Aleksander Sikora colspan="11" colspan="3" colspan="3" Michał Szczygieł colspan="7" colspan="3" colspan="5" Jan Dąbrowski colspan="14" colspan="1" Hi Hania colspan="15" colspan="1" Sylwia Dąbrowska colspan="16"
Gallery
Coaches and their finalists
+ Color key Winner Runner-up Third place Fourth place Fifth place