VOICE OVER: Team CeeLo Faces Off Against Team Blake as the Fab Four Become Three

After the last two weeks' eliminations on NBC's The Voice, I really I didn't know what to believe in anymore. Two weeks ago, an extremely talented fan favorite, Dez Duron, was sent home, and last week Adam Levine's last two mentees, including powerhouse rocker Amanda Brown, left as well. It's times like those when you just have to wonder what all of the voters in America were thinking. So tonight, the Fab Four became only three, and I was bracing myself for another one of my favorites to leave. At the start of tonight's show, the only contestants left were from Teams CeeLo Green and Blake Shelton. So don that more than adequate pessimism and let the nerve-wracking evening begin!

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It was the consensus that the members of Team Blake were the stars of last night, and Scotsman Terry McDermott was "musical perfection" according to his coach. Performances from The Voice were reportedly #1 on the rock and pop charts this week, and all four of the contestants' songs were in the top purchased songs on iTunes as well. Blake and CeeLo bragged on the two from their teams, and Adam and Christina contributed profusely kind words as well. Adam said, ""All the people in top four are-I'm so proud of them! We share the same pride as their coaches with these incredible singers. It was a relief last night, because I wasn't stressed, just enjoying it. I'm proud and thrilled for these four and all they've accomplished." Christina could not say enough about how important song choices were and how both CeeLo and Blake have gotten that right all along, "What's interesting is how CeeLo was able to tune in to Nicholas in such a great way to work with the song choices. And Blake going country with Cassadee has been a strong point because she can deliver them beautifully. They're all so talented, and they've grown leaps and bounds."

Then the coaches of the current contestants got to brag on their couples a little bit. "There's a lot of work that still needs to be done until next week," Blake admitted. "You can get in danger if you overthink a performance. You have to find the balance. This crap's hard! It's freakin' hard! Gosh dangit!" Of last night's performances, CeeLo told The Voice host Carson Daly that he was proud of his mentees for being so genuine, "I think it was received with the utmost respect. I appreciate the courage it takes to get up there under these circumstances and be honest and vulnerable."

After so many warm and fuzzy remarks, Blake's Terry McDermott and Cassadee Pope sang "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men. Cassadee had beautiful, almost-1980s curly hair and actually bore a strong resemblance to Ariel (the heroine in Disney's The Little Mermaid), because she was in a cute sparkly dress that was green on the bottom and purple on the top. They sounded great, though Cassadee definitely delivered a more confident performance, which did not seem to completely go with the broken flavor of the lyrics.

The Voice Season 2 finalist Juliet Simms returned to the stage after that beautiful duet and performed her new single "Wild Child," and she gave Carson Daly some insight into what the current contestants were thinking at that moment. To ask her to address that in the first place was definitely in the category of inane questions, and her answer was expected, "They're thinking ‘Am I going home? Am I going to win? So many questions. Keep calm, know that you're amazing that you've made it that far.'" So true.

Carson also asked the contestants about what it was like to be this far. Cassadee, whose performance was #1 on iTunes last night, marveled, "People actually like us enough to vote! I feel like we've already won. But when you're this far, it's hard to not want to win." Trevin admitted that he really wanted to win because, "I want to be a voice for people who don't have a voice." With that in mind, Carson announced the first safe singer for this week: from Team Blake... Terry McDermott will advance!

Another former The Voice singer, country girl Rae Lynn sang her single, "I Want Your Boyfriend" which she wrote with some other people from The Voice.

To keep the human interest angle going, Carson asked the singers, "Who would you take on a desert island?" Their responses were hilarious and varied, but very thought through. Adam concluded, "If I brought CeeLo, he'd be constantly entertaining. If I brought Christina, the two of us would have some kind of super baby that could sing amazingly." And still in the desert island theme, Carson asked, "Who would survive best on a desert island?" Terry chose the safest bet, himself, saying, "I would do best on a desert island because I have no problem talking to myself."

The third returner of the night, opera-trained Chris Mann, sang his debut single "Roads," which was a beautiful song that sounded like a "You Raise Me Up" type of inspirational song. After his performance, he managed to tell all of his recent accomplishments in about the space of two minutes or less: He sang for the President recently, he released a Christmas album, which has a song featuring Christina Aguilera. Carson even commented on Chris's self-advertising skills, "He's a plugging machine. He got all those mentions in on live TV!"

After all of that fun, they returned to the tense stage where the performers waited to see which of them was safe. Carson announced that Cassadee Pope had been saved by America. As she should be.

The next was a performance of Mariah Carey's tear-jerking hit, "Hero," sung by CeeLo Green's Trevin Hunte and Nicholas David. Unfortunately, this was a strange rendition, because it was a good duet version which sounded like it was supposed to be done by a guy and a girl. So Trevin's part consisted of pretty high notes the whole time. He really just sounded like a girl, making what could have been a brilliant performance mediocre and frankly, just odd. After their song, Adam Levine reflected on them, recalling that he turned around for both of the current Team Blake contestants, but for neither of the Team CeeLo ones. "I've grown to love your talent so much," he told both of CeeLo's mentees; "I was so wrong to not turn around at the blind auditions."

Then the moment of truth came. CeeLo's guys knew that one of them was going home, much to CeeLo's chagrin. One thing that seemed to define Trevin Hunte in the past was that he looked ridiculously nervous as he was standing on stage waiting to see if he was going home. Granted, it is an intense situation, but he was always noticably sweating buckets, and there was what can only be described as uncontrollable anxiety on his face (this right here is a pretty typical Trevin look). It made me stressed out just to watch him. But tonight, he really seemed like he had been coached on that, because he kept smiling and looking relaxed. Anyway, between the young guy with some mighty pipes and confidence issues, Trevin Hunte, and the guy singing for his wife and child, Nicholas David, Nicholas rounded out the top three. As sweet as Trevin is, it was definitely time for him to go. Finally! An elimination that makes sense! There haven't been any of those in weeks. 

A few weeks ago, Ginge's Picks would have included Blake's Terry and Cassadee, Adam's Amanda Brown, and Christina's Dez in the Fab Four, and I might have even pegged Amanda Brown to win the whole thing. Given that my favorite was eliminated, Ginge's Picks for the finals is Cassadee and Terry. Predicting the winner will be hard, becuase while Terry is a crazy-awesome rocker, Cassadee seems more marketable, and she has been on the top of the iTunes charts for weeks. That prediction will come next week.

Tune in to NBC next week on Monday at 8/7c to watch the Top 3 perform and Tuesday at the same time to find out who advances to the finals!

Visit www.nbc.com/the-voice/artists/ to view the full list of Season 3 contestants (those eliminated and those still in the competition) plus their stories, videos, and more. You can download your favorites from tonight's performances at www.iTunes.com/thevoice, or watch them on The Voice's YouTube channel: www.Youtube.com/NBCthevoice. Keep up with The Voice through the week and during the show on Twitter: @NBCTheVoice, #TheVoice.