Blake Shelton Had an Interesting Answer When He Was Asked If He Was Leaving 'The Voice'

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Now that The Voice has wrapped up season 21, it's time for the coaches to take a moment to enjoy the holiday season and focus on their other exciting projects. But while we wait to see if NBC renews the singing show for another installment, we'll be wondering about the future of one coach in particular, the one and only Blake Shelton.

To be clear, the "Came Back as a Country Boy" singer hasn't declared his intention to leave The Voice, which he's been on since the premiere season in 2011. That said, earlier this year, Blake did drop hints to Today's Hoda Kotb that he might soon be looking to enjoy a less hectic schedule and embrace a "simpler life" with his wife, Gwen Stefani.

"I hope that’s not too far down the road," Blake said. "Ten years sounds like way too long to me. I’d like to see that sooner than later."

He also explained: "I mean, we've [Gwen and I have] both pretty much taken it to the limit as far as our careers go and touring and now the television thing. It’s been fortunate to accomplish a lot of things. But, hopefully, at some point, we get a chance to live some life."

On top of that, rumors swirled this fall that The Voice producers were looking to "replace" Blake on the show "with someone younger and more current" after hiring Ariana Grande for season 21. Of course, Blake basically denied this was true when he jokingly texted Ariana a link to an article covering the rumor and wrote, "Thanks a lot Ari… Thanks a f--n’ lot.." Ariana then posted the text from Blake in the below Instagram post (see the last slide).

So, is Blake really considering walking away from the show after 10 years, or is it all just a bunch of hearsay? It's hard to tell at this point. In 2017, while chatting on the radio station WKRO 93.1 FM, he said that he had planned on doing the show "at least a year," but noted that "anything can change."

At the time, he also said that he wanted to stick around for Kelly Clarkson joining the coaching panel. "I’d like to at least go far enough to do that season coming up with Kelly Clarkson as a judge. I think that’s gonna be a lot of fun to have her in there."

Of course, four years later, he ended up staying much more than just a year. While it'll definitely be a sad day if Blake decides to walk away from the show, we'll forever have many memories of his hilarious antics, particularly the frequent banter sessions involving former Voice star Adam Levine. Until that day comes though, we're going to keep cheering on The Voice coach.

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