Contestants are aspiring singers drawn from public auditions and local karaoke bars. The show's format features four stages of competition. The first is the blind auditions, in which the four coaches listen to the contestants in chairs facing opposite the stage as to avoid seeing them. If a coach likes what they hear from that contestant, they press a button to rotate their chairs to signify that they are interested in working with that contestant. If more than one coach presses their button, the contestant chooses the coach he or she wants to work with. The blind auditions end when each coach has a set number of contestants to work with (such as ten in the U.K. version, sixteen in the U.S. version or sixteen in the Dutch version). Coaches will dedicate themselves to developing their singe