Only the public vote can save The Voice

Determined to prove that last year's debut series was not just some random, ill-conceived shambles, they went away to 'refine' the concept . . . only to muck it up in just the same way, all over again.

Last night, we finally reached the first of the live elimination rounds, when the public got a belated chance to deliver their thoughts on tomorrow's forgotten stars, chosen by the eclectic quartet will.i.am, Jessie J, Sir Tom Jones and Danny O'Donoghue.

It will be interesting to see how many people bothered to vote. No scrub that, to see how many people even bothered to tune in.

For not only did the show move from its Saturday slot to a Friday, presumably thinking it had more chance of fighting off Bill Bailey's Jungle Hero in the ratings than tonight's final of Britain's Got Talent, but it had already tested the patience of viewers during the last few frankly shambolic weeks.

The spinning chairs bit (we're not ruled by BBC protocol and can still call them that) is a piece of genuinely entertaining fun. It's the show's USP, a gentle poke into the midriff of an industry too consumed by image, at the expense of talent.

But once the so-called mentors have chosen their teams to do battle for the title, what the heck is the next bit all about?

From the moment the chairs thingy is all over, there's only one thing we want to know. Which judge – sorry, protocol police, I mean which coach – has chosen most wisely?

But instead, we waste an interminable amount of time watching them whittle down their own people, Lord Of The Flies style.

First, they pair them up in a sham of a head-to-head showdown – what's the point of the pantomime antics and crocodile tears when the mentor has clearly already decided on their favourite?

Then, when that's all over, what do they do . . . the same thing all over again, getting rid of more.

It would be like David Cameron showing us bits of the debate about an in-out European Union referendum, but denying us our say until he's got the result he wanted all along. Imagine how infuriating that would be!

To be fair, the brains behind The Voice wouldn't have got a great deal of coherent support from the mentors who, let's not forget, had to be fed lines of dialogue last year in case they couldn't produce their own pithy material.

So, left to their own devices, imagine how the wash-up meeting might have played out:

Producer boss man: "So, coaches, what did you make of series one?"

Will.i.am: "Wowsers, it's all been just dope, dope and super-dope."

Jessie J: "Television was just not ready for the talent on this show."

Danny: "On some of them high notes, there was people up in space stations going, 'Woah, I can hear that!'".

Producer boss man: "And Sir Tom . . . your thoughts?

Sir Tom: "Yeah. Huhh!"

Let's hope things hot up over the coming days, now the public is finally involved.

At least Holly Willoughby and Reggie Yates finally have a reason to be there, and Leanne Mitchell (last year's winner, for the majority who have forgotten) will doubtless get her one last chance to appear in the prime-time limelight.