Rookie coach Niall Horan came onto The Voice in its 23rd season and completed what seemed like an impossible task — he defeated Blake Shelton on the coach’s farewell season. The cowboy seemed to be setting the One Directioner up to succeed him all season, as the two musicians formed the most heartwarming father/son relationship. Horan opened up recently about Shelton’s reaction to his victory, and whether or not he believes the country icon really passed the torch to him.
Nobody was more surprised than Team Niall’s Gina Miles when her name was read as the winner of The Voice Season 23, defeating Team Blake’s frontrunner, country singer Grace West. And while it was shocking that Blake Shelton wasn’t able to earn his 10th victory to close out his epic final episode of the show, it seemed like a fitting end, after the cowboy spent the season saying things like, “Niall is going to take my seat on the show” and that he was “passing the baton on to my son.” Horan, however, seemed wary of accepting those words as sincere, as he told NBC:
