ITV The Voice viewers left furious after Anne-Marie snubs Sheffield singer in tense battle round

Viewers were upset with the ‘2002’ star judge’s choice to select contestant Sweeney, who had previously danced for Anne-Marie, over 21-year-old singer-songwriter Chanel Yates from Broomhill.

Some on social media branded the singing competition “a fix” on February 20, after the pair sang a joint cover of Nick Jonas’ ‘Close’ featuring Tove Lo in a battle – to settle who would make it through to the next round of The Voice as part of Anne-Marie’s team.

While both Sweeney, who is known for his dance moves, and Chanel, who has been singing since she was a teenager, impressed judges with their talent, the newest star judge chose the performer she knew prior to the show adding “I feel like it’s Sweeney’s time”.

But those watching at home, expressed their unhappiness with the ‘unfair’ decision to let the 21-year-old leave the competition, particularly as Anne-Marie and Sweeney were already established friends before he auditioned for The Voice.

On Twitter, user @rachaelcushley wrote: “#thevoiceuk so the wrong decision. Chanel was much better. She obviously chose him because she knows him. Not fair.”

While Paul White added: “Imagine Ann Marie putting her mate through even tho he wasn’t as good #thevoiceuk.”

And @dobbiedogg agreed, saying there was “Blatant favoritism towards Sweeney.”

Tommy Wells also disagreed with the decision, tweeting: “FIX!!! Judges shouldn’t be picking their mates?!?! Chanel deserved the have the place not Sweeney.”

Viewer, Laura Sheriston from Mansfield wrote: “That was obvious. She was always going to pick her mate. Total fix that one. Poorl girl had no chance.”

During the blind auditions, Anne-Marie turned around for the Broomhill singer less than 10 seconds into her performance of Harry Styles’ hit ‘Adore You’ and she sailed through to the next round with fellow mentor Sir Tom Jones telling her “you deserve to be here”.

At the time, Chanel said the competition was "the biggest moment” of her life after she first starting getting into music when she was bought a red saxophone at 13 years old.

The battles continue on The Voice tomorrow (February 27) at 8.30pm on ITV.

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