'The Voice': Blake Shelton uses his save after Kelly Clarkson’s ‘dramatic’ pause backfires

Let the Battles begin.

"The Voice," one television show that hasn’t shuttered amid the coronavirus outbreak, moved toward the Battle rounds on Monday, the phase of the NBC competition where each coach has to pit two of their singers against each other in a dueling duet.

And in true "Voice" fashion, there’s a new surprise element in play: Each coach will not only get a steal, but a save that will enter the rescued artist into a Four-Way Knockout.

The rule changes, however, went over Kelly Clarkson's head. The "American Idol" alum missed out on stealing a singer from arch nemesis Blake Shelton over her flare for dramatics.

Here's what happened:

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Team Blake's Joei Fulco and Todd Michael Hall went head-to-head in a rock 'n' roll match-up made in heaven, effortlessly singing Tina Turner's "The Best."

"That performance was like 10 shots of caffeine," Nick Jonas said.

Clarkson complimented Hall's ability to hit the high notes. "Your voice is insane. I don’t think anyone on the show is like you," she said. "And that’s really awesome. I know you sang Foreigner in the Blind (Auditions)… and you nailed that."

When Hall pointed out that Clarkson "didn’t turn for me," the talk show host admitted, "I know but you are incredible … I’m owning it, and it happens sometimes."

Clarkson tried to make it right by stealing Hall when Shelton selected Fulco as the winner, but her "dramatic" timing didn't turn out so well.

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"Todd is available to steal or save but you only have until he leaves the stage to steal him," host Carson Daly explained. Clarkson missed the window to press her button to steal, allowing Shelton to swoop in with a save.

Why? "I was always going to do it but I was being dramatic," Clarkson said.

"You were a little late, Blake got the save," John Legend said. Clarkson added, "Wait, what! I thought I had to wait until he got down the stairs."

Cut Clarkson a break. "It was the first time and I have a lot of jobs," she joked.

The Battles will continue next week amid the coronavirus pandemic, as "The Voice" has been pre-taped until the end of April, Legend told the Associated Press last week.

"There were only three weeks of live shows planned and those were for May. So who knows what we’ll do? I don’t know if we’ll be able to do them without an audience. I haven’t spoken to the producers about what the plans are," Legend said.

“And I think everybody’s playing things by ear because we don’t know where the world’s going to be in May. But if we can do those shows in May, that’d be great. Possibly without an audience, that would be understandable,” he added. “But, you know, if we can pull it off, then that would be great. We’ll see if that’s doable.”

Contributing: The Associated Press

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'The Voice': Kelly Clarkson’s ‘dramatic’ pause backfires