The Voice results are in, and it’s a stunning conclusion for the show’s sixth season.
Though Jake Worthington was considered the top contestant for much of the year, he came into Monday’s finale locked in a tight competition with fellow finalists Josh Kaufman and Christina Grimmie.
[WARNING: Spoilers ahead]
After announcing that Grimmie came in third place, host Carson Daly delivered the results that the Season 6 winner was Josh Kaufman. For many who had penciled Worthington in as a show-in, the result was a shock.
Not everyone picked Jake, however.
Adam Levine tried to call the winner for The Voice on the eve of the announcement, saying after Monday’s performance that Christina Grimmie was his pick to win it all.
It made sense, given that Levine coached Grimmie to the finals and a strong set of performances on Monday. Grimmie sang the Miley Cyrus song “Wrecking Ball” then followed it with a duet with Adam on Gotye’s “Somebody That You Used To Know.”
Grimmie ended the night with a show-stopping performance of the Elvis Presley song “Fools Rush In,” prompting Adam to declare her the winner.
“I think this is yours,” he told her. “I think you are going to win this show.”
Grimmie seemed to like Adam’s prediction of The Voice results.
“It would mean all the hard work has paid off, but I will not throw a tantrum and cry and be depressed and be immature if I don’t win, because the fact that I am in the top three is a huge blessing,” she said.
But despite Adam’s prediction, many still viewed Jake Worthington as the frontrunner from the onset, and on Monday he wowed Blake with his finale performance.
“When you get on stage and you sing something, people are engaged and that’s a trait that only a true country artist has,” Blake told him. “Thank you for bringing that back into country music.”
Kaufman was filled with passion in his final performance as well, throwing down his microphone stand at the end of Monday night performance of Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain.”
“This whole journey has been worth it no matter what, but the sacrifices I’ve had to make being away from my family and the sacrifices they have had to make without me being there… it would make it so worth it to come out on top,” he told Extra. “It would obviously all be worthwhile.”
After the performance, Usher was just as confident in Kaufman’s abilities as Adam was in Christina.
“The only thing left now is to win The Voice and start making his album,” he said. “That is what I would like to see happen. I think he deserves to be ‘The Voice’s’ voice… year after year it has been Blake and Adam, we’ve gotta change that. He’s changing that.”
With the results of The Voice finale on Tuesday, Josh Kaufman is now $100,000 richer and has a record deal with Universal Music Group.