The Black Eyed Peas star defended the BBC format from claims that there isn't enough drama, saying that he doesn't want to see singers have "their souls crushed" like on The X Factor.
Speaking to journalists including Digital Spy, will.i.am noted: "With this format because you made a bond with the people on your team, it's like you're coaching them. A coach doesn't beat the athlete up, the coach tries to instil some type of faith and courage.
"When singers go on the other shows, you're probably never going to hear from those people again. Why? Because their souls and their whole world has been crushed and they've been embarassed in front of everybody. This one's different. I want to see every single person that walked off that stage proud and not battered and bruised, because this is their passion.
"That's why I like this show and this format. Maybe it doesn't make great TV, but it's gonna make great artists. Do you want TV or do you want artists that are gonna go and perform for people and make people forget about their problems for five minutes in a song? TV's great, but there's lots of it."
His fellow coach Danny O'Donoghue agreed that he does not want The Voice UK to become about warring judges and humiliation.
"I think there's a certain amount that has been force-fed to the UK that that's the way to act," he argued. "We created a show where you can give people bad news in a really good way.
"If you had a talent show for 5-year-olds, and all [of them] were going 'off off off' to another 6 or 7-year-old, you'd probably give them all detention, give them a good speaking to. With us, it's not a pantomime. You can't create a circus or a show around what we do. That's not our thing, we go in and we speak from the heart."
