Paloma Faith may have voiced concerns about the gender imbalance on the panel of ‘The Voice’ during her time as a coach, but it is certainly not something current star Jennifer Hudson is concerned about.
The singer has urged bosses to keep the line-up as it stands, and she wants to remain as the only female.
When a space on the talent show became available after Gavin Rossdale was axed last year, ITV decided to hand his seat to former ‘X Factor’ star Olly Murs rather than recruit another woman to sit alongside Jennifer, Sir Tom Jones and Will.i.am.
Asked if she would have liked have seen things evened up, Jennifer told HuffPost UK at the show’s press launch: “No! What other girl do you need?!
“A girl always wants to be the only girl,” she said.
“The only other girl I have room for is my lady Emma [Willis, the host of ‘The Voice’].”
Jennifer continued: “I didn’t really think about it, to be honest. Here at J-Hud Productions, we welcome anyone.
“I love working with Will, I love working with Tom and Olly, and if it was a girl I’d have loved working with her just the same, but I’m happy to be here and be the only girl. Keep it that way!”
When the same question was posed to Emma, she said it was not a matter of “male and female”.
“In a world of equality, it would be lovely to have two females and two males,” she said, “But what we need are people who are dedicated and invested in finding, nurturing and looking after the people we find on the show.
“Jennifer, the minute she arrived I was like, ‘I want you to be my best friend. I love you.’
“These guys are busy, so it’s scheduling as well, it’s finding the time to commit to the show.”
Back in 2016, Paloma Faith said she was “pissed off” to be the only female on the panel of the last BBC series.
She told the Daily Express at the time: “I think they should change it. They said it was a formatting thing, they keep telling me. That’s what I’ve been told, I don’t know.
‘The Voice’ returns on Saturday (6 January) at 8pm on ITV.
