Blake Shelton jokingly drops the 'truth' about why he left The Voice

Blake Shelton left The Voice in 2023 and he recently joked about the reason he did.
NBC's "The Voice" Season 14
NBC's "The Voice" Season 14 / Rodin Eckenroth/GettyImages
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Do you love The Voice, music fans? The show honestly seemed to be a bit better years ago before the format changed and things got weird. Oh, sure...Having Snoop Dogg on the show is fantastic, but we can see the rapper in lots of different places, including the Olympics. What we no longer see is Blake Shelton.

Shelton was a judge on the show for 23 seasons beginning in 2011. He and Maroon 5's Adam Levine were staples for years, even if at times they did not seem to get along. Maybe that was part of the shtick, though. For a number of years, Shelton's current wife, No Doubt's Gwen Stefani, was also a judge.

Then last May, Shelton decided enough was enough and he did not want to do the program anymore. He needed to move on to other things in life. His career has almost always been successful so he did not need the money that The Voice paid him.

Blake Shelton jokes about why he really left The Voice

The question is what would Shelton do instead? Would he make a number of new albums? Would he tour for an extended period of time? Or would he possibly do nothing and instead binge-watch shows on Netflix?

The answer is still not truly known, but ahead of Shelton's appearance on ESPN's College GameDay on Saturday, the singer was a guest on The Pat McAfee Show. McAfee is also on the panel of GameDay so Shelton was on his program to help build the audience for this past Saturday.

Shelton is also from Oklahoma and ESPN's show was live from Norman, Oklahoma ahead of the Oklahoma and Tennessee game. Shelton did not have to travel far to be on the set. He was traveling a bit to do other things besides appear on The Voice, though. Or at least that is what he told McAfee.

So why is Blake Shelton no longer a part of the sing-off show? His answer was a bit joking, but he said, "I’m up in Utah right now elk hunting. This is amazing up here. I didn’t grow up getting to elk hunt, obviously. I lived in Oklahoma. Getting to come out and do different things like this and get some exercise and get my a** kicked a little bit trying to get up and down these mountains with a hangover every morning. It’s what I need in my life. This is why I quit The Voice. So I could start doing more stuff like this."

Fair enough. Still, a hangover every morning doesn't seem healthy. At least, Shelton works off the calories by climbing mountains.

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