Why is Simone Biles on ‘The Voice’? How the athlete became a playoff consultant for Snoop Dogg’s team

Snoop Dogg is a new coach on The voice season 26, and he’s already made a splash by doing something the show hasn’t seen before — bringing in a celebrity mentor who isn’t a professional singer. Many fans of NBC’s singing competition were confused to learn that Simone Biles would work with the rapper’s team during the November 25, 2024 episode.

What is Simone Biles doing on ‘The Voice’?

Simone was announced as a playoff advisor for Team Snoop after the November 19, 2024 episode. She will help the rapper coach five vocalists who are vying for a spot in the live shows. At the end of the night, only two members of Snoop’s team will advance to the next round.

“Talent, poise and 11 Olympic gold medals!” The voice wrote on Instagram on November 21, 2024. “Welcome Simone Biles to #TheVoice as Team Snoop’s Playoff Advisor MONDAY 8/7c on @nbc.”

Many fans expressed their confusion over the casting choice in the comments.

“How does this make sense? Lol,” one user wrote.

“Love her! But she’s not a singer :/,” another person added, while a third user commented: “I love her just the same (good) but I’m confused?”

However, others took the opportunity to defend Simone and thought the decision made good sense.

“This makes total sense when you realize these people can already SING and what they need is stage presence, confidence and performance training that she is an expert at,” one person wrote.

Singer Savion Wrightaka NOIVAS who competed on The voice season 23, also weighed in. “People don’t realize that Simone can actually give good advice on performance, routine, stage presence and confidence. It’s not just about the ‘voice’. They can already sing, they don’t need advice on that… believe me, I would know, as a performer from the show,” he wrote.

Why did Snoop Dogg choose Simone Biles as his advisor on ‘The Voice’?

Although Simone might seem like an unusual choice for The voiceSnoop himself beat the artistic gymnast to be on the show after they got along well at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“We have such different careers. But the things we dealt with, they deal with now,” he shared Associated Press prior to the episode. “We have the best experience and knowledge to give to these artists. She’s a performer. I’m a performer. We’ve performed under extreme conditions. We always do our best. But sometimes things happen behind closed doors that you don’t know about. So we are able to speak to these things and give them real reassurance.”

Snoop, who is a first-time coach next door Michael Bublé and returning coaches Reba McEntire and Gwen Stefanisaid Simone fit in with her team, which is like a “family.”

“It feels good,” the rapper said. “(Simone) can do anything she wants. She picks and chooses what she wants to do. We’re at that point in our career right now. It has to feel good. It can’t be forced or I won’t do it. Period , period, blank.”

Meanwhile, Simone shared that she and Snoop were “able to riff off each other and give the artists the best insight into the next round.”

The Olympian continued: “It was pretty easy, simple. We’re both very soft. But if we need to get that energy up, we can. For us it was about building confidence for the next week.”

Simone, who won three gold medals and a silver at the Paris Olympics, also shared how she was able to relate to the artists even though she wasn’t a singer herself.

“These are the steps of learning: learn, process, go back and work,” she explained. “They all have that vocal talent. It’s about harnessing it, knowing when to bring it out and what songs to sing and what genre you fit into. And what you want your legacy to be. This is really a special show as well as the judgment. They don’t get to see the physical appearance first. It’s completely without ears, to listen and also put their craft together.”