Is the Instant Save a good idea on The Voice? The live Twitter voting is now in its fourth season and the results seem to be following a rather specific pattern.
UPDATE (4/29): This article has been updated to reflect the first three Instant Saves of season 8.
A Brief History of the Instant Save
The Instant Save was introduced in The Voice season 5 and has now been used a total of 12 times. On a Tuesday night results show, the bottom singers are announced and a five-minute window is opened on Twitter for viewers to choose who they want to save.
In that first season it was slightly different as there was no sing-off. Instead, the bottom three (or two) singers were announced and then the Twitter voting began without the contestants having one last chance to sing. Starting in season 6, the bottom three (or four) are revealed and then get to sing one last time before the Twitter voting opens for the Instant Save.
Team Adam Always Wins
In seven of the 14 times the Instant Save has been used, at least one singer from Team Adam was in the bottom. And all seven times, a member of Team Adam won the Instant Save. That’s right, Adam Levine has a 100 percent success rate when it comes to the Instant Save.
Team Blake Always Loses
On the opposite end of the spectrum, a singer from Team Blake has been in the bottom six times that the Instant Save has been used, but they have never won it. Blake Shelton has a 100 percent failure rate when it comes to the Instant Save.
While there isn’t enough statistical data to draw any conclusions, it’s also worth noting that Team Pharrell is now 0 for 3 when it comes to the Instant Save while Team Usher was 0 for 2.
Meanwhile, the other coaches throughout the seasons (Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, Shakira and Gwen Stefani) have had singers who both won and lost the Instant Save at least once.
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Last Is the Best
Since season 6, when the singers in the bottom were allowed to perform one last time before the Instant Save voting began, there have been 10 sing-offs. In nine of those sing-offs, the contestant who performed last won the Instant Save. The only exception was in the Top 8 week of season 6 when four singers performed for the Instant Save and it was the third singer, Kat Perkins of Team Adam, who won it.
In other words, no one who performed first or second in the sing-off for the Instant Save has ever won it.
With only 14 examples of the Instant Save, and only 10 with the sing-off, it might be premature to draw conclusions. But the fact that performance order has played a major role in deciding all of the Instant Saves, and the fact that Team Adam always wins while Team Blake always loses, certainly makes it seem as though there is a heavy bias.
Will this trend of Team Adam domination and the performance order of the sing-off continue to influence the Instant Save results? We’ll have to wait and see to find out. The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8pm on NBC.
(Image courtesy of NBC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
