Blake Shelton Says Filming ‘The Voice’ During Coronavirus Pandemic Is ‘Gonna Be Crazy’

The Voice is currently airing the knockout rounds of its 18th season, which means the show has almost arrived at the point where it traditionally begins live episodes. This season, things will likely look different due the coronavirus pandemic, and coach Blake Shelton admitted during a virtual appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this week that he still isn’t sure what the live rounds will shape up to be this go around.

“What’s scary is we’re going to have to do The Voice in some fashion like this,” Shelton said, referencing his call-in to Fallon from his ranch in Oklahoma. “Because obviously the live shows are coming up here in just a matter of weeks, and especially in LA we’re not gonna be ready to have events again. It’s gonna be crazy. We’re gonna have to coach like this, it’s just gonna have to work out this way. It’s gonna be nuts.”

Shelton currently coaches the show along with John Legend, Kelly Clarkson and Nick Jonas. “I think they do,” Shelton said in reference to the show’s producers when Fallon asked if there was a plan for the competition series’ upcoming episodes. “Gwen’s brother actually set up this computer and this interview and everything for me today because I clearly don’t know how to do this stuff,” he admitted. “So I think they have a plan and they’re going to tell me when to be at the computer.” Of the contestants, the Oklahoma native mused, “I’ll listen to them, I guess, perform, and then give them some pointers and… I don’t know.”

During the interview, Shelton was getting a haircut from girlfriend Gwen Stefani, who is quarantining with him at the ranch along with “a bunch of Stefanis.” “I’m talking about a pile of ’em,” he said. “My mom and stepdad live about 10 miles from here, I haven’t seen ’em since the middle of March except for waving at ’em through the truck window.” The “God’s Country” singer explained that after pressing pause on the Omaha, Nebraska, stop of his Friends and Heroes Tour, he and Stefani “immediately” went to the ranch and “we have not left.” “Oh my God they do, they go by so fast,” Shelton said of days in quarantine, joking, “A lot of it’s because I black out normally around 5:30 or 6:00.”

Shelton and Stefani shared that they’ve been doing some gardening, and Shelton told Fallon that his other half has also been embracing her culinary side. “Gwen’s learned how to bake bread really good, sourdough bread,” he said. “Literally, it’s like Little House on the Prairie out here. She makes bread, I’ve been building a fence and gardening. We’re pretty self-sufficient out here.”