We saw contestants take their coaches to their respective home counties and parade them around the town like the Sam Maguire.

Bressie was gutted to learn there’s no McDonalds in Castletownroche, so he consoled himself by stealing Smarties off kids on the street. Mammies all over the village went mental for him and Shannon’s auntie even asked to lick his face.

Kian went first to Fermoy to be guest of honour at Kelly’s baby shower then on to Donegal to catch some surf with Shane. Shane showed he was a real pro by putting his wet suit on inside out and suffering ‘a near death surf experience’. Kian revealed he’d never had a cup of tea with a hundred people peering in the window before, but you could tell he was totally loving it.

Jamelia had the craic in Charleville and Keith’s mammy told everyone that the Brummie was the first bird her son had ever brought home, scarlet!

After Kelly gave a stellar performance Bressie told her she’s the best pregnant female singer he’s ever heard on a reality show. No doubt he’s seen quite a few…

Shane brewed up a storm on stage and seriously impressed the ladies. Sharon said he was sexy, Jamelia gave him a big hug and Kathryn couldn’t contain herself as she launched into an impromptu disco dance routine much to the coaches amusement.

Keith accused folk of stealing his dungarees then it turned out Jamelia was the thief, the crafty mare! Bressie told Keith he was impressed with the way he uses his hand then told viewers he wasn’t chosen as coach for his intelligence.

Eoghan did a sterling impression of Patrick Swayze as he danced to Time Of My Life in the hallway and gave Kathryn a big smooch which no doubt left the poor woman scarred for life.

Bday Boy Kian was presented with a montage of puddings, doughnuts and arses.

And then the results came in! Shannon came fourth, Shane in third place, and Kelly was second which meant Keith was crowned the winner – he must be feeling pretty UNBELIEVABLE right now!!

There was lots of talk of tackle, tweets accusing the coaches of being deaf and Bressie giving out about monitors again.

Soon it was time for the inaugural ‘The Voice Has Got Talent’ and contestants showed us they’re more than just a pretty voice as Kelly played a tin whistle, Shannon gave it socks on the accordion and Keith (along with his lovely assistant Eoghan) paid homage to the legendary Wham.

Shane asked for sugar to be poured on him as he cavorted with dancing girls in leopard print pants. He also fessed up that he got kicked off the Luas last week for dodging a fare, though he swore he just mislaid his ticket…

Shannon revealed she’s not a politician (in case we were wondering) and that John was miffed with her for stealing his song. Bold Shannon!

With only days to go before she’s due, Kelly had everyone on tenterhooks over whether she would deliver a song or a baby on stage. But there was no need to worry as Bressie reassured everyone he’d googled how to be a midwife so she’d be grand.

John told us that ex-con saucy swimmer Alexandra had given him a hand with French oral after Eoghan let the minx out of his basement. Bet that didn’t go down too well with his girlfriend or his FHM stalker.

Katy Anna achieved her goal of being the perfect mix of Disney and dark (interesting combination there), but shocked the nation when she admitted to doing the dirt on Bressie – with Kian??!!

Keith sang about being crazy then invited Jamelia to a cheese fest in Cork, while Eoghan made scandalous accusations about Kathyrn being legless in Coppers, the brute!

Sharon told Kian to get back in his box but he indignantly refused, while Bressie sang about his love of caravans.

The results saw poor Katy Anna and John get their marching orders and an unbelievable hat-trick from the rebel county.

So now we have our final four. Kelly won the talent contest with her whistle, but will she be crowned Queen of The Voice? Will the Cork vote be split between Kelly, Shannon and Keith? Will Shane manage to stay out of trouble with the law and avoid arrest before the final? Tune in on Sunday to find out…

Eoghan managed to get #tackleBressie to the top of the Twitter trends. However he failed miserably when it came to actually tackling the Mullingar Man and ended up with his arm in a sling!

Kian told Kelly she delivered an awesome performance (as opposed to delivering a baby, phew!), while Katy Anna’s unusual homework involved Daniel Day Lewis and a few Dairy Milks, nice!

Shane admitted he nearly strangled Kian when he got the wild card last week, and Bressie nearly dislocated Shannon’s spine when she went through.

Not only did John aka Superman get a ten from Bressie he also got a good luck tweet from Roscommon Royalty Chris O’Dowd! Keith is still waiting on one from Beyonce. And John told us he was busy preparing for his orals next week. Wonder if his stalker FHM model will offer to help him with that.

Wayne confessed he’d done a Simon Cowell and got the auld gnashers whitened and brightened, while Aoife kept talking like Nicole Scherzinger and told us she was delighted at being celeb spotted in Tesco Limerick.

Keith was compared to a male Toni Braxton (unfortunately Eoghan wasn’t around to clarify that one) and kept going on about trains and jackpots, while Shannon’s dad has been making folk stand in the middle of the road to vote as you do.

Bressie told Kian to stop talking through his arse and ‘Weird old lady’ Sharon was told to get off Twitter.

The six that got through were Katy Anna, John, Shane, Shannon, Kelly and Keith, while unfortunately it was curtains for Ray, Wayne, Sinead and Aoife. But what a stellar top ten! See you at the semis…

After opening with a sterling performance from McFly, Live Show 4 saw scandalous accusations from coaches, alarming threats from contestants, copious amounts of kissing, and talk of er, goose-pimps…

We learned Bressie doesn’t understand how the show works, Jamelia doesn’t have a problem with accents but does have difficulty getting into her chair and that Kian HAS heard of Depeche Mode he’ll have you know!

Tammy showed off her feisty side by singing about kissing girls (and liking it) And while the coaches’ reactions were mixed she certainly impressed Kathryn who grabbed her in a headlock and duly lobbed the gob.

Also in fighting form, Aoife came prepared to win at all costs brandishing a dangerous looking spikey ring and saying she was going to stab Tammy in the kidneys with it. Call the Guards!!
Katy-Anna stressed repeatedly the YEARS of experience Andrew has, you’d think the poor fella was an OAP. Though in fairness the Mann does sleep with his hat on. Andrew also tried to get votes by saying he’d show his bare naked head if he got through – nice try but not quite as tempting as the offer of Andy’s arse!

Kian called Katy-Anna a lovely girl (ah but sure aren’t they all lovely girls!) before the coaches made her cry.

After his persecution of the coaches last week Eoghan turned his attentions to Kathryn calling her modesty into question by showing pictures of her jumping on fellas and accusing her of carrying the cold sore virus.
More taxing tweets from the public accused Kian of having the bang of nerves off him and there was talk of smearing nutella all over Jamelia, saucy! Continuing the food references Kian told Dylan he was like marmite and Kathryn compared Kian to a block of cheese. Kian talked of having butterflies in his belly and contestants giving him ‘goose-pimps’ – what exactly is the man putting in his tea?

While Jamelia doesn’t buy into Shane’s posing clearly there’s many a girl that does as the lothario was suffering a bout of kissing disease this week. This revelation lead to Sharon accusing Kian of smooching all his contestants – the Dundalk Diva’s lowest blow yet!

After viewers tweeted that he looked like an electrocuted penguin, Dylan told Eoghan he likes having the craic by wearing women’s dresses and putting rollers in his hair and had the pics to prove it too! Jeez Tuam is a fierce cosmopolitan town altogether…

Jamelia went nuts at the coaches’ low scoring of Dylan, poor Kian was so scared he even got up from his chair! The Brummie Bird was also at the namedropping again, saying she toured with Destiny’s Child when she had a bun in the oven then suggesting a heavily pregnant Kelly should perform a rave next week. Kelly went one up by offering to bring on the baby and do a duet – now THAT’s how to get the votes in!

Results came and saw Aoife go through over Tammy (and she didn’t even have to use the knuckle duster), while Cork showed it prefers Elton John to AC/DC by voting for Kelly in their droves. Keith triumphed over Dylan (clearly the hair rollers didn’t impress viewers) and Katy-Anna’s going through means we’ll never get to see Andrew’s whole head. And Shane was the lucky one getting the lifeline, no doubt Kian will be rewarding him with plenty of kisses!

We learnt there’s not much love for AC/DC in Cork, fans don’t vote for contestants based on their hair (or do they?), and Kian doesn’t like it when folk prance around the stage.
Shannon told us she has great craic crashing cars and was delighted to be the star of the World’s Cringiest Video. Sinead has been canvassing bingo halls for the OAP vote, while Andy revealed he’s after the chubby chasers market.

After having his fill of knickers last week Eoghan asked viewers to send in pics of their boobs, slapped Andy’s arse – and then complained he doesn’t get paid enough… He also compared Sinead to Liverpudlian Christopher Maloney, hope that doesn’t mean she’ll turn up legless to the final!
John rejected Kathryn’s Facebook friend request as he’s too busy being stalked by an FHM model while ‘One word Ray’ still can’t bring himself to listen to Westlife songs on the radio. Speaking of which, Kian told Wayne he’d love to see him do a ballad.

Kian revealed he prefers Andy’s right cheek and told us he was so excited about the prospect of being immortalised in tattoo form that he’d even pay for the honour. Kian then made demands to be lifted out of his seat, talk about diva behaviour!

Roisin pretended to be a goat while Jamelia was accused of being a horse. Mark called John a little pup and was going on about being a lion again, would Sharon ever stop encouraging him with this Mowgli business, such nonsense!

In the Engine Room’s therapy session a sadistic Eoghan forced the coaches to read out harsh tweets about themselves. After Jamelia’s equestrian evaluation Sharon was told to scoff a sambo and Bressie’s rugby prowess was called into question. However poor Kian really got the brunt of it as his tweet said he was the most annoying person on the planet and should be punched in the face – with an iron! Watch out McDermott, word on the street is theres a revenge attack being planned!!

Results saw Sinead get through (go on the grannies!) over Shannon (jeez they REALLY don’t like AC/DC in the rebel county.) John was the pup that roared over the lion Mark, and Ray’s getting through made Kian realise his dream of being on an arse was over. He was so upset by this he even refused to talk to Kathryn!, Roisin’s goat impressions clearly didn’t go down too well as she was trumped by a dapper Wayne (who looked mighty fine in his suit and tie) while the much coveted lifeline was thrown to Shannon – must have been the hair that swung it..

A bolshy Jamelia claimed she had no regrets over her scandalous voting tactics the previous week even going so far as to say she’d do it again – put that in your pipe!!

Eoghan looked particularly fetching in a pair of sexy specs and a quiff that’d make Jedward well jell. He had great craic in the engine room looking at pics of folk in their knickers all night as well as tricking poor Jamelia into saying she wet herself in Irish. Although she somehow made it sound like Japanese. Eoghan was also in full zen mode telling Ray to lay his hands on Kelly’s belly to calm himself!

Bressie’s mammy had clearly scrubbed him up and sent him to work in his best threads, leaving us to wonder just what is under that suit and tie.

Keith had the hump with Beyonce for not sending him a good luck tweet, the cheeky mare! But not to worry as he got a few nines AND the first ten of the series.

Kian was in violent form on the tape, encouraging his team to beat each other and warning them in a menacing tone that they’d better impress the HELL out of him- or else!! And Bressie wasn’t much better threatening to set Andrew’s leather trousers on fire. The poor fella was so stressed at the prospect of losing his beloved pants even Kathryn noticed his heavy breathing.

While Bressie admitted he’d forgotten how to count, Kian showed off his numerical skills giving Karl an 8 because it was two away from ten – guess who got an abacus for Christmas…

Sharon reassured us there were no rabbits on her team, just in case we were wondering, thanks for that Sharon. She then kicked Kian and accused him of being (tone) deaf.

John told us he’s delighted with his foray into fame so far. He revealed the best part has been the free pizza slices he’s getting at school. In fact he seemed more excited by that than being tweeted by an FHM model!

Meanwhile, Stephen told us that he’d had to go to the boys room NINE times during the night – ah here lads, talk about TMI!

Sinead got a tough time from the coaches over her pitching problems but Bressie defended her by blaming the monitors and she was also consoled by Eoghan who offered his sleeve for her to snot on. The charmer!

The weekly axe swung its ugly head once more and this time we unfortunately lost Jennifer, Karl, Stephen and Terri.

And to top her performance from last week Sharon went all ghetto on us with her rap version of the Thong song, accompanied by the melodious tones of Eoghan and our very own V Reporter Stephen. These guys should so form a band and enter Eurovision, they’d win it by a mile! Til next week…

The coaches kicked off the show quite literally with their group rendition of ‘Teenage Kicks”; though it’d be fair to say it’s been more than a few years since any of these got asked for ID in their local offie.

Mark’s dancers strutted their stuff in teeny tiny red hotpants while Shane’s started off respectably enough in leather leggings, then whipped off their tops and danced around in their bras – and on the day of our national saint too, the blasphemy! Sharon also picked up on the ‘underwear as outerwear’ vibe, gamely sporting a lace thong pinned to her chest, as you do…Of course Eoghan had to go one better and managed to find a big sparkly pair of pants to don himself!

Kian got stroppy (as usual), this time with Jamelia for giving her own team such high scores “Ya cant be doin’ that!” and proceeded to harp on about it all night. He even went so far as to say it was his low point of the night – harsh, Ego, harsh! He also slagged off Bressie for his “awful” Depeche Mode song choice – adding to his list of music acts NOT to invite around to tea.

While Jamelia was not a happy camper about her ‘Little Firecracker’ Dylan’s middling scores, the lad himself admitted he was just delighted that all the coaches scored him above five -aw!

Ladies got to swoon over a tie-less Bressie in a tux, every girl’s dream, though he was missing the accompanying box of Milk Tray.

Eoghan was full of the challenges backstage, from trying to get #goldpants trending again to making Jamelia speak gaeilge and Sophie say a load of complicated stuff that no one understood in Italian.

Daryl was told he looked like he fell off the One Direction truck, and Kian admitted the youngster was his ‘guilty pleasure’ – strange description there Ego.

Andy sang ‘Umbrella’, appropriate for the pissy day that was in it, and told us he’d do anything to get to the final. He’d even go so far as to get Kian’s face tatooed on his arse (or was that get Kian’s arse tatooed on his face?)

Velvin was so hot Kathyrn had to cover her mouth when she said his name, and Bressie wasn’t sure if Ireland was ready for the Velvster’s chippendale act. It seems he was right as the Yank was sent home along with Dean, Sophie and Daryl in the bloodbath that followed. At least Sharon softened the blow somewhat by prancing around in her #goldpants a la Whacko Jacko – tune in next week to see if she can top this…..

Having befriended each other after the Blind Auditions earlier this year, Gary and Mark never expected to one day be entering the ring together. Alas, Sharon and assistant coach Paul Walsh had a different plan of action and shoved the two lads, side-by-side, under the glare of the bright spotlight. “Let that lion roar!” ordered Ms. Corr of her two proteges, but in the end it was house-husband-turned-paintball-warrior Mark who roared loudest.

Locals from Kildare and Sligo must have been throwing shapes in front of the TV this week as respective representatives, Ray and Danielle, took part in a colossal sing-off to the tune of Evanescence. “I’m not going to be a popular man,” admitted Sligo-bred Kian, as he eventually sided with Team Kildare.
Despite earlier confessing to having “the attention span of a goldfish”, Mairead managed to last an entire song, whilst challenging Terri onstage for a place in the live finals. This was followed swiftly by a meeting of two very different worlds, namely Philip’s pop sensibilities doing war against his opponent Shane and his rock tinged tone. Despite two fine performances, Kian surprised everyone (not least school teacher Philip) by bringing Shane through to the upcoming live finals.
And then came the moment of truth…

The infamous Beatty brothers from Ballymun finally got their chance to try and upstage each other with a killer version of “The Girl Is Mine”; a fantastic slant on the Brandy & Monica r’n'b classic from the late 90′s. Predictably, it was an incredibly tough decision for a smitten Jamelia, who openly admitted on air “I’ve got such a soft spot for you guys!” As always, only one contender could go through.
Be sure to watch big brother Wayne Beatty take on a mega cast of The Voice of Ireland finalists – live – from Sunday 17th March. This time you are the coach and every hopeful contender is at your mercy. Watch, vote and witness the arrival of Ireland’s next great pop sensation. This is The Voice!

This week also reigned in the first ever three-way battle, or at least that was the plan. Jennifer, Fiona and Aoife worked hard to perfect their three-piece girl-group take on “The Promise”. Nevertheless, a sudden cancellation meant that all best laid plans were dropped quicker than Rihanna’s skimpy stage costumes. Fortunately, Fiona and Aoife managed to make up for Jenny’s quick exit with a finely tuned duet version of the Girls Aloud pop classic.

Bressie brought together two sultry sounding – and similarly excellent – singers for a fresh makeover of an old Crowded House radio hit. “It’s going to be hard to lose one of these,” he confessed earlier, which became all too apparent on the night when it came to finally choosing between Katy Anna and Michelle.

“Derek, I hated the dancing!” snapped Jamelia, who was clearly ready to show the professional Bono impersonator to the nearest exit. Onstage competitor, Daryl, certainly looked a little perturbed by having to compete against Derek’s jiving, hip-shaking antics. He needn’t have worried, however, as the coaches’ verdict veered unanimously in his favour. (Oh well, best wishes to our very own “Trousersnake!”)

With just 48 hours notice, Jennifer later re-joined rehearsals beside her lil’ buddy John for a last minute mock-up of Bruno Mars’ “Marry You”… and the result could not have been better. Indeed, Jennifer may have towered above her male counterpart onstage, but the pair certainly matched each other in the talent department. A highly entertaining performance, brimming with chemistry and spilling over with fun, inevitably made for a tough decision on Sharon Corr’s part.

There’s no mistaking that this week’s incredible line-up culminated in yet another intriguing edition of The Voice of Ireland Battle shows. With just one more left before the live finals, it looks like we’re in for a heated and grubby last-chance showdown next week. Do not dare to miss it!

Sharon Corr and her lil’ helper, namely Royseven’s Paul Walsh, tried their utmost to upstage Stephen and Ciara backstage with a spur-of-the-moment vocal jam, but the latter pair managed to well and truly outshine the veterans with an electric performance onstage.

Niamh of Team Kian fame aimed to stick it to the man during rehearsals, but instead got stuck in her colossal high heels. In spite of the Westlife star’s disapproval of ladder-like footwear, Niamh finally managed to stay upright during a gritty stiletto-propped showcase with college buddy and proud owner of tea-cosy style headwear Karl.

Later, Ms. Corr brought two rather competitive young studs, Gerard and Dean, together for a staggering pop vocal showdown. Oddly enough, the result was an equally vicious spat between Sharon and her team coach enemies. “I think you made a big mistake,” snarled a surprisingly irritable Jamelia. “Bad call,” barked Kian. Indeed, the pressure from all quarters left Team Sharon in clear turmoil as to whether the best man really bagged the gold in the end.

There was an emotional end to this week’s Battles show, thanks to a stirring rendition of Labrinth and Emeli Sande’s megahit “Beneath You’re Beautiful”. This was followed by a reluctant nod to the eventual victor, Keith Hanley, by a tearful Jamelia, who clearly had much love for both contestants.

Fortunately, assistant coach Lemar was on hand to provide a temporary counselling service to his music biz mate.

As always, it was a thrilling night of ups and downs, highs and lows, awkward shoes and divisive George Michael impersonations. The Voice of Ireland may be many things, but one thing’s for sure; it’s never predictable.