'The Voice'€™ Recap: Matthew Schuler Eliminated, Kelly Clarkson And Blake Shelton Perform

The Voice’s live eliminations the Top Six became Five after the season’s final instant save shockingly sent Matthew Schuler home. Kelly Clarkson, Coach Blake Shelton and Xenia were on hand to perform between saves.

Kelly Clarkson Performs “Underneath The Tree”

Clarkson, a former mentor on The Voice, opened the show with her single “Underneath The Tree” from her new Christmas album Wrapped In Red. The performance was festive and lively. Backup dancers got in the spirit and distributed presents to the judges and those in the first few rows.

The Voice Recap: Saves

Team Christina Aguilera’s Jacquie Lee was the first saved contestant, followed by Shelton’s only contestant, Cole Vosbury. Adam Levine’s contestants Tessanne Chin and Will Champlin were the final saves, leaving Schuler and James Wolpert in the bottom two.

Group Performances

Lee, Chin and Schuler came together and had fun performing “You Got The Love” by Florence + The Machine to fill in time between saves.

Later in the show Champlin, Wolpert and Vosbury sang a stripped down, emotional rendition of “More Than Words” by Extreme.

All six contestants took to the stage and, keeping with the general Christmas theme of the night, sang “O Holy Night” with the backup singers. The way the contestants performed together showed how close they have become.

Blake Shelton Performs “Silver Bells” With Xenia

Shelton took to the stage to sing Christmas classic “Silver Bells” with The Voice season one contestant Xenia. Xenia was Shelton’s runner up in the competition.

The Voice Eliminations

Schuler and Wolpert were left in the bottom two, leaving it up to the Twitterverse to save one. After a tense six minutes, the Instant Save results saved Wolpert and eliminated favorite Schuler. Levine still has all three of his contestants heading into the semifinals next week.

Confessional

The first question asked in this week’s confessional was what the coaches, contestants and guest Ellie Goulding would be doing if they weren't singing. Aguilera revealed that she would be a teacher while Wolpert said he would be an illustrator, as that was what he was studying in college.

Next the coaches and contestants were asked what they didn’t know before coming on The Voice. Shelton joked that he looked like a Sasquatch next to Aguilera and that he should’ve learned to invest money better so he wouldn’t ‘need’ this job.

Tune in next Monday at 8:00 for The Voice semifinals.