will.i.am has dubbed Gary Barlow's 'Let It Shine' as the "opening act" for 'The Voice UK'.

will.i.am

will.i.am

The 41-year-old rapper will appear as a judge on the ITV singing competition when it kicks off on Saturday (07.01.17), and has slammed the Take That singer's rival competition - which airs on BBC and will overlap by approximately 30 minutes - as the lesser act in comparison to his show's "headliners".

He told The Sun newspaper: "[Gary's] opening up for the headliners.

"He's got to keep the people's attention because they're going to jump and come to us.

"Saturday night, the opening act, guess what, people leave that stage, they go to the main stage and go, 'Oh s**t, 'The Voice' is on ITV'."

The ratings war comes after 'The Voice' moved from it's original home at the BBC to rival broadcaster ITV after the 2016 series.

BBC bosses filled the gap in it's schedule with 'Let It Shine', which aims to find five singers who will form a Take That tribute act and will star in a musical in London's West End.

And the news also comes after Gary, 45, said he would be "checking" the viewing figures for each show, but it isn't his top priority.

He said: "That's someone else's job to think of that stuff. Everyone's going to be talking about that, I'm aware of it.

"But I might be checking the day after."

Meanwhile, the 'Rule The World' hitmaker recently slammed Simon Cowell, who embarks on yearly searches for talent on 'The X Factor', for handing out recording contracts that don't necessarily bring success.

Gary said: "This is for a job, it is not someone waving a contract. The record business is very hard now I can't even predict what is going to be successful or not.

"But with this I was able to sit there and say the reason you are here today is a job. We are going to give you an opportunity to play around the UK eight shows a week. By the end of the year I hope these will be the start of careers of years to come."

'Let It Shine' starts on BBC One at 7pm on Saturday (07.01.17), whilst 'The Voice UK' starts an hour later at 8pm on ITV.

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