Blake Shelton Announces New Career Venture Day After Last Day on ‘The Voice’

The day after Blake Shelton said goodbye to The Voice for good, the country music superstar launched a new venture. Shelton and Lee Metzger, a former executive producer on The Voice, are launching Lucky Horseshoe Productions. The two previously worked together on the hit USA Network series Barmageddon.

Shelton met Metzger while working on The Voice. Metzger was an EP on the hit NBC series for 13 seasons, while Shelton was a coach for 23 seasons. Their series Barmageddon became USA Network’s most-watched series premiere in three years with 1.2 million viewers. A second season has already been filmed. Shelton hosts the show with The Voice host Carson Daly and former WWE Superstar Nikki Garcia (f.k.a. Nikki Bella).

“I’m excited to partner with my longtime friend and creative rainmaker Lee Metzger,” Shelton said in a statement to Deadline. “He was one of the first people I met at The Voice and working together currently on Barmageddon. We’ve always been in sync on ideas and projects that interest and excite us. So long as Lee doesn’t screw this up, it’s going to be great.”

In his statement, Metzger said the two realized they have a “creative point of view that an audience loves to watch” after the success of Barmageddon. “I’m looking forward to producing our own brand of entertainment and years of success with Blake,” Metzger added. “Besides, now that he’s left The Voice, it’s not like he has anything better to do.”

Shelton was the only coach to appear on all 23 seasons of The Voice. When the show returns for its 24th cycle next season, Reba McEntire will be sitting in his chair. During the season finale Tuesday night, Cassadee Pope, Todd Tilgman, and other winners Shelton coached performed Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” in his honor as clips from his time on the show played.

The Voice is much means much more to Shelton than just another chapter in his career, as he also met Gwen Stefani on the show. The two fell in love while working as coaches and married in 2021. Stefani did not attend the live finale in person, but she did make a pre-taped appearance. She did make a surprise appearance at the wrap party though, an eyewitness told Entertainment Tonight. Shelton and Stefani danced to a Beyonce song before the DJ played No Doubt’s “Just a Girl.”

“Who would have thought that this Orange County girl and this country guy from Oklahoma would find each other on the set of The Voice,” Stefani said in her pre-taped segment. “When I first came on the show, our lives were having this parallel destruction happening… and then next thing you know, Blake and I start becoming besties, and falling in love.” Stefani was referring to the singers both going through divorces at the time they met.

The Voice Season 23 ended with Gina Miles, who was coached by Niall Horan, beating out Team Blake’s Grace West. Shelton’s singers won The Voice nine times during his tenure. McEntire, Stefani, Horan, and John Legend will serve as coaches next season.