The Voice of Poland

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.

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.

Coaches

Key

  Coach

  Contestant

Timeline

Gallery

Season 2 (2013)