The first Team Snoop matchup of The Voice Season 26 Knockouts will go down in history as one of the craziest in show history.
All three singers ultimately advanced to the Playoffs, including country singer Jake Tankersley, who was the last but certainly not least of the trio to make an unlikely advance.
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The 31-year-old Claremore, Oklahoma, singer was going up against two other talented Team Snoop performers, Christina Eagle and Austyns Stancil. During rehearsals, Eagle and Stancil seemed most concerned about each other, as Eagle prepared to take viewers to church with a rendition of Maren Morris’s “My Church” and Stancil honored the anniversary of his father’s passing with a performance of Luther Vandross’s “Dance With My Father” that moved Snoop Dogg and Mega Mentor Sting to tears. But Tankersley brought his own emotions, too, choosing to sing “Going, Going, Gone” by Luke Combs.
“This song is one of my favorites,” Tankersley said. “It’s about relationships that didn’t work out.”
Tankersley, a 31-year-old who married his wife when they were 18, said reflecting on those past relationships made him think about how happy he was to have ended up with his wife. Snoop encouraged him to make his performance more emotional by singing it “to the one who messed up.”
Jake Tankersley’s Double Steal during The Voice Season 26 Knockouts
He did just that when he took the stage, earning rave reviews from all the Coaches. Reba McEntire appreciated Tankersley’s “great round, big voice,” and Gwen Stefani complimented his “signature” low tone.
“This is a popular song, but you sound like you wrote the song,” Stefani said.
“Jake, don’t break my heart!” Snoop said after the performance. “This is country music’s finest right here. I love the way you took that information that I gave you and you made it your record. I could just feel it all. You made me proud to be your coach. Thank you, Brother Jake.”
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Snoop announced Christina Eagle as the Knockout winner. Immediately, Stefani and McEntire both pressed their buttons to steal Tankersley.
“I don’t have a country singer on my team, and I feel like I deserve that,” Stefani joked before making a more earnest pitch as to why Tankersley should join Team Gwen rather than go over to McEntire, a country queen. “I love coaching all genres because to be able to be here on The Voice and be able to nurture somebody else who has the dream that I already got to live, I’m so blessed.”
For McEntire, it was the second time she’d tried to get Tankersley on her team, as Stefani had blocked her when she turned her chair for him during Blinds — and that Block ended up mattering these many rounds later.
“Reba I love you so much. You’re an Oakie, I’m an Oakie… but Gwen used her only Block on me. I’m gonna go with Gwen,” Tankersley said.
“Somebody that would take such a risk and pick me over Reba?” Stefani said afterward. “Maybe it’s meant to be and I’m going to do some great work with him.”
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