Axed contestant J Marie Cooper, has slammed The Voice for being ageist.
The 27-year-old lost out to Sophie Griffin, who is ten years her junior, this weekend during the ‘battle rounds’.
After the show, J Marie took to Twitter to let her feelings be known, although the comments were later deleted.
“I am gutted... I wanted to do the live shows. Feel the decision could have been based more on my voice.
“The fact that I am 27 should not have even been a factor. It’s called ‘The Voice’ not ‘The Age’. I’m stating facts here.”
When faced with the decision, the pair's coach Will.i.am made clear references to the contestants’ ages. When deliberating he said that looking at the two hopefuls, he was forced to pick between his 27-year-old self - the age he met Fergie - and his 17-year-old self - the age he founded The Black Eyed Peas. In choosing Sophie Griffin, he dipped deep into his seemingly limitless self-referential well, and ultimately went with his younger self, saying,"without that person, I would not be the man I am today."
The BBC has categorically denied that The Voice is ageist, stating that decisions were based on performances on the night.
Only one thing to do, it seems - some simple maths. We’ve worked out the average age of contestants left in the running. The results are in. The average age of the contestants left is... 24.3.
Hardly ageist J Marie, sorry. Sour grapes?
See the remaining contestants (average age 23.4 years) below