Voice of Ireland veteran Laura O'Connor snubbed previous team leader Kian Egan in favour of Rachel Stevens in Sunday night's (February 7) episode of the show.
The 20-year-old Finglas-born singer was mentored by Egan in series three, in which she got as far as the live shows.
Her friend Gavan, who she competed against in 2014, accompanied her and was adamant that she should not pick the former Westlife singer to mentor her.
O'Connor wowed the judges with her performance and all four made a pitch to get her, with Egan reminiscing about the time she was knocked out and saying he would be gutted if she didn't opt for his team. However, O'Connor wasn't convinced and opted for Stevens instead.
The penultimate stage of the blind auditions saw some seriously talented singers from all over the country qualify for the Battle stage of the competition.
After this latest episode, all the teams are almost full. Both Rachel and Kian have just two places left on their teams, Bressie still has space for three contestants while Una has only space for one more talented singer.
See how the rest of the contestants fared below.
Alannah Best
18 year old Alannah Best’s grandfather is her biggest fan and is the one who persuaded her to audition for The Voice of Ireland. For her blind audition, Alannah sang the very beautiful “Jealous” by Labyrinth. Unfortunately, the coaches felt it wasn’t her time this year.
Brian Roche
Brian Roche is 29 years old and from Ardnacrusha in Clare. He’s not just a singer, as a teenager Brian starred in the BAFTA winning Custer’s Last Stand Up, won World Championship of Performing Arts in LA in 2013 and has been starring in musical theatre since he was ten. For his blind audition Brian decided to sing Mr. Jones by the Counting Crows. Despite his impressive stage experience though, Brian failed to secure a place in the Battles.
Cathy Moore
22 year old Cathy Moore from Swords headed along to the blind auditions without her biggest supporter- her Nana. Without her there, Cathy was feeling her nerves, but it wasn’t enough to put Kian off. After picking out her potential, Kian hit the buzzer and Cathy joins his team for the Battles.
Darragh Lee
Darragh Lee is 21 years old and from Youghal in Co. Cork. This musical youth worker plays an impressive four instruments- guitar, bass, drums and ukulele. Three weeks before his audition, Darragh’s uncle passed away and he performed Ed Sheeran’s Photograph in his memory. Darragh particularly impressed both Rachel and Kian who both turned for him. In the end, Darragh went with his heart and opted to join Team Kian.
Dolores Kelly
Dolores Kelly from Westmeath has reached a turning point in her life after she decided to call off her own wedding. Singing runs in her family- she is related to Fr. Ray Kelly who became a viral hit last year, when he scored over a million online views of a video of him singing Hallelujah. Dolores was hoping for some success of her own with her rendition of The Killers All These Things, however it wasn’t to be. None of the coaches invited her onto their team.
Georgina Richmond
32- year-old Georgina Richmond hails from Belfast is this week’s 2fm Wild Card, after her audition in front of the 2fm DJ’s blew them away- despite suffering a throat infection at the time. Georgina is taking a big risk and has closed her beauty salon business to concentrate on her singing career. Her cover of Beyonce’s Running got the coaches very excited and all four turned to pitch for her to join their team. Georgina was so overwhelmed that she got four chair spins that she was barely able to finish the song, and in the end she decided to join Team Bressie.
Hannah Ferguson
Hannah Ferguson is 20 years old and from Derry. For her blind audition she decided to take on Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams. Hannah gets very anxious when she is up on stage but that hasn’t prevented her from performing in front of 20,000 people in Croke Park and from winning an All-Ireland singing competition. With the clock ticking down to zero, Una decided to turn for Hannah and she now joins Team Una for the Battles.
Jessica Brett
18-year-old Jessica Brett from Clonmel in Co. Tipperary was entered into the Voice of Ireland by one of her best friends. She didn’t expect any of the coaches to turn and was delighted when Rachel hit her button.
Michael Lawson
London born Michael Lawson now lives in Co Monaghan with his parents. The 19-year-old has entered singing competitions before, but has never taken part in anything as big as The Voice of Ireland. For his blind audition, Michael chose to sing John Legend’s All of Me, and his silky smooth version made Kian, Rachel and Bressie all turn their chairs. Before he took to the stage, Michael said that if he had his pick, he would join team Bressie. So that’s exactly what he did.
Patrick Loewen
Patrick Loewen grew up in Canada with his Irish parents. They sent him to boarding school in Galway and he later married his childhood sweetheart who sent him letters while he was there. One marriage and two kids later; Patrick decided he wanted to move his family to Ireland and they moved to Galway. Patrick joins Team Bressie for the Battles.
Sam Conlon
Sam Conlon is 23 and from Skerries in Co Dublin. The Mechanical Engineering student works part-time as a pizza delivery boy, and has never really sung for people before. Unfortunately, he picked a very tough audience for his first outing and he was not picked.
