The Voice scores again beat Britain's Got Talent in ratings war for third week running

• The BBC's links to Universal questioned as its revealed contestants were already signed with the label

The Voice proved to be triumphant again after it won the ratings battle with Simon Cowell's show Britain's Got Talent.
The BBC talent show managed to pull in more viewers than the ITV programme on Saturday evening with an average of 9.45million tuning in.
The Voice beat BGT by almost 4million viewers in the crucial 20-minute crossover period between 8pm and 8.20pm.

Winning: The Voice beat Britain's Got Talent in the ratings for a third week

In that time, The Voice averaged 10million and BGT 6.2million – going up to 10.4million as soon as the BBC show finished.
In week two of the battle, during that crossover period The Voice got 9.6million viewers compared with 7.5million for BGT.

The BBC show was also top dog in week one during the all-important 20 minutes, in which they managed to secure 2.4million more viewers than its ITV rival.
Despite being crowned the loser for the third week running, a spokesman for Cowell said: ‘Simon is really enjoying BGT  this year and is happy with  the ratings.’

'Happy': The BGT boss Cowell is still smiling regardless of the ratings

However, The Voice has been put under the microscope by viewers after they noticed that several contestants weren't so undiscovered.
Viewers took to Twitter to express their concerns about the BBC's relationship with record label giant Universal.
Over the weekend viewers saw musicians, Tyler James and Cassius Henry, both get put through to the next stage of the show, but it has now been revealed that both singers had ties with the record label.

Not undiscovered: Tyler James auditions for The Voice, as Cassius Henry wows Jessie J and Danny O'Donoghue

James, who was best friends with the late Amy Winehouse, was signed to Island Records in 2003, which is now owned by Universal and released three singles before getting dropped from the label in 2005.

Cassius Henry, also released three singles whilst he was signed to Island Records.
One viewer, tweeted: 'I wish they'd stop putting defunct popstars on The Voice. I want them to bring attention to unknown voices. #thevoiceuk'.
While another viewer tweeted: 'I own a single from Tyler James. Is this some kind of semi-professional talent show?'

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Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Labour MP Gerry Sutcliffe said, 'These shows must be real and talent must get an equal opportunity. People want to see a real show with real people. If it is being stage managed that is not the way forward.'
Sutcliffe who is a member of the Culture, Media and Sport committee continued, 'The Select Committee receives a quarterly report from the BBC, so if there is evidence we will be asking them to explain these things.'
The BBC's links to Universal are also questionable as judges, Jessie J, Will.i.am and Tom Jones are all signed to the label, and since the show aired there has been an increase in their record sales.

Leading lady: Jessie J has seen a massive increase in her record sales

According to HMV, Jones' sales are up by a third, whereas there has been a six per cent increase on Will.i.am's sales but Jessie J has seen a massive 89 percent in the sales of her music.
A spokesperson for The Voice told MailOnline, 'The Voice is purely about talent, not image, history or background.  The only criteria for entrants is that they must not be under current recording contract.' 
'In addition to the usual strict editorial measures, the BBC have taken appropriate steps with Wall to Wall to ensure these are acceptable and there can be no editorial influence.  Any suggestion otherwise is entirely without foundation.'

Universal panel: Jessie J, Will.i.am and Tom Jones are signed to the record label