The Voice of Holland

The Voice of Holland, also known by its acronym TVOH, is a Dutch singing reality competition television series that became a global TV format franchise, created by media tycoon John de Mol Jr. and musician Roel van Velzen in the Netherlands and airs on RTL 4. For the first nine seasons, The Voice of Holland was hosted by Martijn Krabbé and Wendy van Dijk. Starting from the tenth season (2019–2020), Wendy van Dijk was replaced by Chantal Janzen. The twelfth season concluded prematurely in 2022 due to sexual misconduct allegations relating to crew members, and the series was subsequently put on hiatus. It is set to return with a thirteenth season in January 2026.
The central focus of the show is the singing talent and quality of the contestants. Three or four coaches, themselves successful performing artists, train the talents in their teams, and occasionally perform with them. After many preliminary off-screen audition rounds, the most promising talents are selected for the televised shows. Crucially, this happens in so-called "blind auditions", during which the coaches cannot see, but only hear the candidates perform. Not until the talent gets chosen by a coach, or when they have finished singing, do the coaches' chairs rotate towards them, and are they revealed to the coaches.
The first episodes are pre-recorded in front of a live studio audience, so that the coaches can experience the audience's reaction to the candidate, and are sometimes influenced by it. The following episodes are recorded wherein some singers lose their spot on the team, and others are promoted to subsequent rounds, through singing challenges in various formats, until only a small group remain in the competition. The format then switches to several live shows, in which the audience take an active part in the judging process, and more singers are voted out until one winner remains.
After many audition rounds off screen it's time for the "Blind auditions". In the first televised stage the auditioners sing in front of the official coaches. All coaches will be sitting in a chair that is turned back from the stage. Supposedly the coaches will first judge by the power, clarity, type and uniqueness of the artists singing. If they like what they hear and want to mentor the artist for the next stage, they will push a button that will turn their chair around to face the stage for the first time and see the artist. If more than one chair turns around, the auditioner can pick their coach of choice. If no chair turns around, the auditioning artist's journey on the Voice ends.
At the end, each of the coaches will have a certain number of artists in their team who will be advancing to the next round. A new twist was added on the twelfth season: the block button. Each coach has the power to block another coach from getting an artist. To ensure that the coaches will not block each other indefinitely, it is only allowed to use the block button once in the entire blind auditions.
The second stage, 'the Battle rounds', is where two artists are mentored and then developed by their respective coach. The coaches of the team will "dedicate themselves to developing their artists, giving them advice, and sharing the secrets of their success in the music industry". Every member of their team battle against another member from their team. They sing the same song simultaneously, while their coach decides who should continue in the competition. The coaches have to choose from the four individual "battles" to take artists to the live round. Starting from the fourth season, each coach can steal one losing artist from other teams. Another twist was added in the seventh season: the Steal Room. While steals have returned, each artist that is stolen will sit in a designated seat in the Steal Room as they watch the other performances. If a coach has stolen one artist but later decides to steal another, the first artist will be replaced and eliminated by the newly-stolen artist. The artists seated at the end of the battles will advance to the knockout rounds. In the eleventh season, each coach is now allowed to save an artist from their own team.
The third stage is the Knockouts. The format has varied from the early seasons where two artists each sang one song with one advancing to more recent years where all artists performed and the coach would select three to send to the Live Shows.
The final stage, dubbed the 'Live shows', is where the surviving combatants perform in front of the coaches, audience and broadcast live. Each coach will be having four artists in their team to begin with and the artists will go head-to-head in the competition to win the public votes. These will determine which artist advances to the final eight. The remaining three artists' future in the show will be determined by the coaches, choosing who will progress.
The final eight artists will compete in a live broadcast. However, the coaches will have a 50/50 say with the audience and the public in deciding which artists move on to the 'final four' phase. In the latter, each coach will have one member who will continue. The final (the winner round) will be decided upon by the public vote. Throughout the final the coaches will frequently perform with their artists. The winner will be crowned The Voice of Holland.
The coaches were not yet known during the show's establishment announcement, but Gordon, Marco Borsato and John Ewbank were rumored to be participating. None of them eventually ended up in the original line-up. The coaches were announced on 17 June 2010: Roel van Velzen, Nick & Simon, Angela Groothuizen and Jeroen van der Boom. In the first season, Roel van Velzen could not attend all live shows because of planned concerts. Martijn Krabbé hosted the show, with Wendy van Dijk joining him in the live shows and Winston Gerschtanowitz in charge of hosting the "Red Room".
Marco Borsato replaced Jeroen van der Boom in the second season, as Van der Boom left the show to become the head judge of The Winner Is, whereas Wendy van Dijk became the full-time host alongside Krabbé. In the third season, Groothuizen was replaced by Trijntje Oosterhuis, who had previously turned down the chance to join the show's first season. On 17 December 2012, it was announced that Nick & Simon would not return as coaches in the fourth season. On 22 March 2013, it was announced that Ilse DeLange would become a coach in the fourth season. In January, Roel van Velzen announced he would not return as a coach for a fourth season and was replaced by Ali B. The coaching panel remained unchanged for season 5 in 2014, but Winston Gerschtanowitz was replaced by Idols winner Jamai Loman.
On 15 January 2015, it was announced that Trijntje Oosterhuis and Ilse DeLange had left the show to focus on other projects, and would be replaced by Anouk and Miss Montreal frontwoman Sanne Hans. Marco Borsato and Ali B returned as coaches for the sixth season. During the season 6 finale on 29 January 2016, Borsato announced he would not be returning for the seventh season, and his position would be filled by Guus Meeuwis. Anouk originally signed to coach two seasons, but decided to skip the following season due to her pregnancy, therefore was replaced by Waylon in season 7. Guus Meeuwis decided at the end of season 7 not to return for the eighth season. On 9 June 2017, it was announced that Anouk would return to replace Guus Meeuwis for season 8, along with returning coaches Ali B, Sanne Hans and Waylon. During the season 8 finale on 2 January 2018, it was announced that for the ninth season, Lil' Kleine would replace Sanne Hans, who had decided to leave for other commitments.
In early 2019, Wendy van Dijk announced that she has moved from RTL 4 to SBS6 and therefore would not be able to return to the show as host. On 22 February 2019, it was reported that the show will continue airing on RTL 4 for the next three years, and Chantal Janzen will replace van Dijk as host for the tenth season. It has also been announced that Geraldine Kemper would replace Jamai Loman as backstage host. On 14 June 2019, it was announced via the show's broadcaster, RTL 4 and their Facebook page that Ali B, Waylon, Anouk and Lil' Kleine will all return for season 10.
On 6 June 2020, RTL announced that Ali B, Waylon and Anouk would all remain on the panel for season 11; but Lil' Kleine would not return. Two months later, Jan Smit was confirmed as Kleine's replacement. In July 2021, it was confirmed that Glennis Grace would replace Smit, who had confirmed his departure weeks prior. Also, season 12 includes the "Comeback Stage" (originally created by the American version), whose duo coach consists in rapper Typhoon and season 6 winner Maan de Steenwinkel.
On 31 March, 2025, it was announced that DeLange would return as a coach for the revival of the show, set to air January 2026. At the same time, it was announced that Willie Wartaal, Suzan & Freek, and Dinand Woesthoff would debut as coaches.
Warning: the following table presents a significant amount of different colors.
In season one, coaches were Roel van Velzen, Jeroen van der Boom, Angela Groothuizen and Nick & Simon (working together). Host was Martijn Krabbé. The first season ended on 21 January 2011, Ben Saunders was declared the winner, with Pearl Jozefzoon as runner-up. Saunders won by 59% of the votes. An average of 2.7 million people watched the show every Friday since its launch, while the final attracted 3,744,000 viewers. The results show broadcast half an hour later attracted 3,238,000. In total, 30 of the show's singles reached the Top 100 download charts in the Netherlands, including 2 #1 chart toppers by winner Ben Saunders.
Martijn Krabbé, who hosted season one, remained as the host but was now joined by Wendy van Dijk, with whom he was already sharing the hosting duties on Idols. Jeroen van der Boom did not return and was replaced by popular Dutch pop-artist Marco Borsato, who would eventually win the show with 19-year-old Iris Kroes on 20 January 2011 over Chris Hordijk for Team Nick & Simon, who again became the runners-up of the show. Kroes won over Hordijk with only 51% of the votes, making her the second female contestant worldwide to win the show after Steliyana Khristova, who won the Bulgarian version of the show.
The third season was hosted by Martijn Krabbé and Wendy van Dijk, while Winston Gerstanovich hosted the 'Red Room.' Roel van Velzen, Nick & Simon and Marco Borsato returned as coaches. Angela Groothuizen did not return as a coach for season 3 and was replaced by Trijntje Oosterhuis. On 15 December, Leona Philippo of Team Oosterhuis won with 56% of the votes, beating Johannes Rypma of Team Nick & Simon, Floortje Smit of Team van Velzen and Ivar Oosterloo of Team Borsato. The ratings for the last show where the highest ratings The Voice of Holland ever had. 4,6 million people watched the show.
The fourth season started in August 2013. Martijn Krabbé and Wendy van Dijk returned as co-hosts, while Winston Gerstanovich returned as host of the 'Red Room'. Marco Borsato and Trijntje Oosterhuis were the only coaches from season 3 to return. Ilse DeLange and Ali B replaced Nick & Simon and Roel van Velzen, respectively. Julia van der Toorn and Gerrie Dantuma of Team Borsato finished as winner and in third place respectively, making season 4 the first season to have two contestants of the same team in the final and the first where a coach did not win in their first season. Mitchell Brunnings of Team DeLange finished in second place and Jill Helena of Team Ali B finished in fourth place.
The fifth season premiered in August 2014 and ended in December. Martijn Krabbé and Wendy van Dijk will as co-hosts, but Winston Gerschtanowitz was replaced as host of the 'Red Room' by Jamai Loman. Marco Borsato, Trijntje Oosterhuis, Ilse DeLange and Ali B returned as coaches for the fifth season. Girl group O'G3NE and Sjors van der Panne, both from Borsato's team, finished in the final two, with the former winning the title and became the first trio to win in any season of The Voice.
The sixth season premiered on 25 September 2015. Martijn Krabbé and Wendy van Dijk returned as co-hosts, and Jamai Loman returned as host of the 'Red Room' once again. Marco Borsato and Ali B returned as coaches and were joined by Anouk and Sanne Hans, who replaced Trijntje Oosterhuis and Ilse DeLange.
The seventh season premiered on 21 October 2016. All hosts and co-hosts returned from last season. Ali B and Sanne Hans returned as coaches for this season, whereas Marco Borsato and Anouk were replaced by Guus Meeuwis and Waylon.
The eighth season premiered on 20 October 2017. On 9 June 2017, it was announced that Anouk, who had been a coach in the sixth season of the show, would return to replace Guus Meeuwis, alongside Ali B, Sanne Hans and Waylon.
The ninth season premiered on 2 November 2018. On 2 January 2018, it was announced that Lil' Kleine would replace Sanne Hans, alongside Ali B, Anouk and Waylon.
The tenth season premiered on 8 November 2019. On 14 June 2019, it was confirmed on the show's Facebook page that all four coaches from the previous season would return. The winner of the 10th season was Sophia from team Anouk.
The eleventh season premiered on 20 November 2020. On 7 August 2020, it was announced that Jan Smit would replace Lil' Kleine for season 11, joining returning coaches Ali B, Waylon and Anouk.
The twelfth season premiered on 7 January 2022. It was announced that would Glennis Grace would replace Jan Smit for season 12, joining returning coaches Ali B, Waylon, and Anouk. For the first time, the show will feature a fifth coach, with rapper Typhoon and season 6 winner Maan de Steenwinkel, who selected participants taking part in the Comeback stage. In addition, this season also marks the introduction of the block button in the show's history, as first introduced in the fourteenth season of the American version. Each coach has one chance to block another coach in the entire blind auditions.
On 15 January 2022, the season was indefinitely suspended in response to sexual misconduct allegations relating to crew members of the show. The following day, coach Anouk announced that she would not be returning to the show in response to these claims. On 19 January 2022, RTL suspended their collaboration with coach Ali B until the allegations were investigated. By 6 May 2022, one more ex-contestant pressed charges at a production member, raising the number of criminal charges under investigation in the show's production to a total of six.
The thirteenth season will premiere in January 2026, four years following the show's suspension. Former coach Ilse DeLange will return for her third season on the panel after a seven-season hiatus and will be joined by debuting coaches Willie Wartaal, Suzan & Freek, and Dinand Woesthoff.
Various international television networks have licensed or indicated interest in the format. More comprehensive information about the other versions of the show is in the "Main article".
In 2013, the show was one of the highest rated shows on Dutch television, with weekly ratings varying between 1.6 and 3.0 million viewers. Its first-season finale, which aired on 21 January 2011, was viewed by 3.75 million. The second season's first episode was viewed by almost 3.3 million.
On 15 January 2022, broadcaster RTL announced that the then-ongoing twelfth season of The Voice of Holland would be put on hold indefinitely after the second episode. They had received concerning questions from journalist Tim Hofman about certain crew members regarding allegations of abuse of power and sexual misconduct.
Soon after RTL's announcement, band leader of The Voice of Holland, Jeroen Rietbergen (brother-in-law of creator and media tycoon John de Mol), issued a statement admitting to years of sexual misbehaviour. According to Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, he had promised contestants that he would make sure they’d advance to the next round in exchange for sexual activities. Producer Talpa Media, now ITV Studios, had known about his sexual misbehaviour years ago and reprimanded him, but allowed him to remain as band leader of the show.
Later that afternoon, Dutch police confirmed that a victim had filed an official report against Ali B. The rapper had been a coach on The Voice for nine seasons. Ali B, however, denied all allegations.
Head sponsor T-Mobile, as well as other sponsors, decided to stop supporting the show.
Anouk, one of the many coaches and hosts to comment on the matter, stated that she had wanted to wait until she had seen the BOOS episode, but after reading Rietbergen's statement, as well as holding several telephone calls with other affected individuals, she had decided not to return as coach on the show.
On 19 January 2022, right after the news that a second victim had filed an official report against Ali B, broadcaster RTL announced that they would suspend their collaboration with him during the investigations. The Dutch police also announced that another victim came forward and filed an official report against Rietbergen.
Tim Hofman and his broadcaster BNNVARA announced that more crew members would be mentioned in Hofman's YouTube show BOOS. The news sparked a heated debate in the Netherlands about the abuse of power by people in the entertainment industry, especially as there had already been accusations against singer Marco Borsato, including an official report of sexual misconduct with a minor. Borsato was a coach on The Voice between 2011 and 2016, and on The Voice Kids between 2012 and 2020.
On 20 January 2022, Hofman's weekly YouTube show BOOS aired an episode focusing on the controversy, titled "BOOS: This is The Voice [nl]". The first part of the documentary revealed more allegations of sexual misconduct on The Voice, including allegations of rape. The alleged sex offenders are band leader Rietbergen, former coach Borsato, coach Ali B and a yet to remain anonymous director of The Voice of Holland and The Voice Kids. The episode ended with Hofman interviewing De Mol, who had just finished watching the first part of the episode.
After the episode went online, reactions poured in. De Mol was accused of victim-blaming, particularly by his company's female employees. A page-wide advertisement published on Algemeen Dagblad stated the following: "Dear John, It’s not the women. Greetings, the women in your company."
The New York Times cited the controversy as an example of how the Dutch approach to sexual permissiveness can sideline discussions of consent and misconduct.
Following the publication of "BOOS: This is The Voice", several Dutch radio stations announced that they would no longer play music by Ali B and Borsato for the time being, and Madame Tussauds Amsterdam removed Borsato's wax figure from the collection. The Flemish TV channel VTM cancelled a planned episode of the Netflix series Sergio Over the Border with Borsato. Publishing house Maven Publishing stopped selling the book The Ali B Method recently launched by Ali B, and Mocro Flavour, an Ali B-affiliated product line of meat substitutes, was cancelled.
The Voice of Holland's social media pages were largely taken offline. After the official reports of sexual misconduct against Rietbergen, Borsato and Ali B, two official reports were also filed against the anonymous director of The Voice.
In the days following publication, several aid agencies for victims of sexual violence reported a significant increase in the number of requests for help. In addition, the demand for confidential counselors within companies increased, and it prompted self-reflection in various organizations on how the social protection schemes for employees was assured within their company. Making confidential counselors within companies mandatory was something that the Dutch government had been looking into for some time.
On 21 January 2022, human rights organization Amnesty International stated that the sexual misconduct scandal on The Voice of Holland showed that the process of legalizing sexual consent laws must be sped up. Many of the cases described in the documentary concern involuntary sex and imbalanced power relations, which are not always punishable by current law. Dutch Minister of Justice Dilan Yeşilgöz stated that the implementation of a new Sexual Crimes Act would be accelerated.
On 29 January 2022, a protest was held in Amsterdam for the accelerated implementation of the sexual consent law.