Guy Sebastian’s awkward response to Natalie Gauci’s Voice audition

She won the fifth season of Australian Idol back in 2007, but Natalie Gauci’s return to the spotlight on Channel Nine’s The Voice got off to a rocky start. 

The 38-year-old auditioned on Tuesday night’s episode, which resulted in an awkward reaction from The Voice coach and fellow Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian.

Not only did Guy, 38, fail to recognise Natalie at first, he also criticised her vocals.

After a pitchy rendition of Sia’s The Greatest made Guy and Delta Goodrem turn their chairs around, Guy struggled to recognise Natalie.

‘I know I’m looking at you weird, but do I know you? Can you tell us a bit about yourself?’ he said.

Natalie awkwardly responded: ‘Uh, well, OK. My name is Natalie Gauci, and you might know me from another TV show called Australian Idol.’

Guy then critiqued Natalie’s vocals, going as far as to say that she didn’t nail the performance.

‘You’ll watch this back and think, “I didn’t love that bit.” There were bits where I thought, “She hasn’t nailed that.”

‘But in the end, what I heard was vulnerability. As a coach, I’d love to help you rediscover why you fell in love with singing in the first place.’

Despite the tough critique, Natalie ended up joining Guy’s team.

Natalie later admitted the audition was ‘weird’ due to her and Guy’s shared experience of winning Australian Idol.

‘You know, Guy Sebastian’s won Australian Idol, and I’ve won Australian Idol, and for me to be onstage singing and Guy being a coach, I thought was weird at first but I’m getting used to it now,’ she explained. 

She added: ‘When I told my family that I was going on The Voice, they automatically just assumed that I was going on as a coach.’