The coaches on season 24 of The Voice had an uphill battle ahead of them when a One Direction superfan took the stage during Monday’s season premiere.
Olivia Minogue impressed with her Blind Audition performance of Sam Smith’s “Lay Me Down,” earning chair turns from Reba McEntire, John Legend and Niall Horan. John was hungry for a win but the odds were not in his favor when Olivia revealed that she had a special accessory for good luck: a “Niall” necklace.
“The merch did well, guys!” Niall celebrated, before sharing another hilarious anecdote about a merchandise-related encounter.
“The first time I met Kim Kardashian, I was backstage at an Ariana Grande concert,” he recalled. “And she brought North [West], her daughter, up, and this is how she introduced North to me, she said, ‘North, this is the guy that sings from your toothbrush!'”
Laughing, Olivia admitted that she also had a One Direction toothbrush, which further dampened John’s dreams of landing the singer.
However, he marveled to Niall, “I just want to respect your guys’ merch ingenuity.”
Reba and John both made their pitches for Olivia to “do something unexpected,” but ultimately the writing was on the wall and she went with Team Niall. Maybe she can even get a new toothbrush out of the deal!
When ET spoke with the coaches ahead of the season, Niall admitted that he was definitely missing his “TV dad” Blake Shelton after the two forged a semi-begrudging bond last season. Blake left the show earlier this year after 23 seasons as The Voice‘s winningest coach.
“Of course I miss Blake,” Niall told ET. “I’m glad I was there for his last season. I got to learn off him and have a bit of a laugh while doing it.”
“Every time he comes to town, he’s like, ‘Can I come over?'” Gwen Stefani teased. “They’re like little-big buddies.”
The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. PT/ET on NBC.
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