Pair miss live stage of The Voice

Popular contestants Femi Santiago and Leo Ihenacho missed out on a chance for a place in the live stage of The Voice as two of the coaches finalised their teams tonight.

Sir Tom Jones and Kylie Minogue made heartbreaking decisions about which contestants they should champion for the closing rounds of the show.

Kylie decided to drop Santiago despite stealing him from Will.i.am's team days earlier after being impressed when he serenaded her during the battle round of the show. Will even told her she should have kept him on her side for the live section of the BBC1 series.

Another departure which will have surprised viewers was Ihenacho - known as Leo The Lion - who has been vocal about his crush on Kylie. The singer had been expected to make it through but Kylie instead pinned her hopes on Jamie Johnson, Lee Glasson and Rachael O'Connor.

Ihenacho, 36, had already tasted pop success with a stint in now defunct chart act The Streets.

For this weekend's knockout stage of the contest the coaches had to slim down their teams from seven contestants to three for the live quarter-finals.

Here are the singers who have made it through to the first live show on March 22.

:: Team Tom:

Bizzi Dixon, 43, from Leicester

Georgia Harrup, 27, from Huddersfield

Sally Barker, 54, from Leicester

:: Team Kylie:

Jamie Johnson, 19, from Gillingham

Lee Glasson, 31, from Coventry

Rachael O'Connor, 17, from Derry, Northern Ireland