THE Voice’s will.i.am ended up in tears over Sir Tom Jones’ exit while filming the upcoming series of ITV show – and said that the axed star gave his ‘blessing’ to return after his shock axe.
The ‘furious’ Black Eyed Peas star, 51 – who has been a judge on the programme since it first aired back in 2012 – has been ‘making his feelings known’ about the panel shake-up since it was announced.
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Earlier this week The Sun exclusively revealed that will.i.am’s co-star Tom, 86, has been dropped from the judging panel after 13 years in savage shake-up.
We had previously revealed rapper Aitch was to replace Danny Jones and Tom Fletcher, and former Girls Aloud singer Cheryl is also set to make her primetime TV comeback as a coach.
Two faces that are set to be back on the panel are rapper will.i.am and Kelly Rowland.
Filming for the upcoming fifteenth series has already started and the record producer couldn’t contain his emotions over the huge change.
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A show insider told us: “will.i.am has made no secret of how he feels about Tom Jones’ sacking so producers were already nervous ahead of the first show – and they had every right to be because during the first filming session of the new series on Friday in Manchester, he broke down crying – and said the only reason he had returned was because he had Tom’s blessing.
“When the judges first came out, producers asked them to start talking about the year ahead and the news season.
“They asked Will to kick things off but he just refused.
“It was so awkward – he crossed his arms like a child and Kelly had to jump in instead to talk about how excited she was to be back.
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“Cheryl and Aitch then spoke about how they felt and then when it got to Will, he just burst into tears and was talking about how angry and heartbroken he was.
“He spoke about how for the last 15 years he’d look to his right and Tom would be there, and how he was such a legend.
“He then said he didn’t even want to be there but he’d had Tom’s blessing, and also because he’d wanted Cheryl to be on the show for so long, and she’d finally said yes.
“He apologised to the audience and said sorry for being emotional and that it was ‘a lot for me’ – but he just doesn’t seem to care what chaos he’s causing with his comments.
“It’s becoming a real PR nightmare.”
The Sun have contacted ITV for comment.
This year’s series of The Voice UK started last month, but The Sun reported yesterday that will.i.am brought filming for the next series to a stop to pay tribute to Sir Tom Jones before gushing over Cheryl’s comeback.
On Thursday we reported that The Voice UK coaches will have an excruciating first day of filming today after Tom’s sacking.
A source said: “Welcome drinks are usually put on by ITV at a top five-star hotel and it’s a nice way for everyone to meet before filming. But not this year.
“It’s seriously awkward as Will.i.am is furious with how producers have handled things and is making his feelings known behind the scenes.
“Last weekend Sir Tom was packing his bags for the judges’ meeting, now he’s been dropped. How he’s been treated is awful.”
Will.i.am has also publicly backed a petition calling for Tom Jones to return to the show after reposting a Change.org petition to his Instagram story.
Alongside the petition link and a photo of Tom, a quote from Tom himself speaking about the firing reads: “The only thing I know right now is that there’s never a good time to fire an 86-year-old who’s still pretty good at his job.”
Will.i.am added a large crying face emoji next to the words, clearly backing his co-star.
The petition has currently accumulated 20,346 signatures.
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A source told The Sun that Tom only found out that he had been booted very last minute.
They shared: “Last weekend Sir Tom was packing his bags for the judges’ meeting, now he’s been dropped. How he’s been treated is awful.”