Sir Tom Jones has put his foot in it at the official premiere of BBC1 talent show The Voice.

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In a question-and-answer session at Monday’s event, co-host Emma Willis asked Jones and fellow coaches Rita Ora, Ricky Wilson and wil.i.am what the quality of the line up was like for this year's series.

Will.iam. replied “the talent this year is….” before Sir Tom jumped in to quip “s**t”.

Asked about his comment, Sir Tom said “I hope it wasn’t a Freudian slip”, before clarifying “It was a joke, I like a joke. That was a joke on top of a joke. It wasn’t a Freudian slip.

“The talent this year is excellent. I think we have a great variety of singers.”

Asked about Sir Tom’s faux-pas, Willis laughed and told RadioTimes.com that the comment was “classic Tom”.

The fourth series of the talent show begins airing on BBC1 on Saturday with coach Rita Ora replacing Kylie Minogue from last year’s line-up.

The format remains the same, with early rounds once again focusing on the “spinning chairs” which challenge the coaches to back the singing talent without seeing them.

Among the contestants this year are Paul Cullinan, the entertainer who once played Bungle in classic children's TV show Rainbow, and 16-year-old Emma Cunliffe, the daughter of Hear’Say singer Kym Marsh who herself found fame with the ITV talent show Popstars in 2000.

Marsh is shown backstage in the first episode of The Voice supporting her daughter, who sings the song Clarity by German/Russian electronic dance music producer Zedd.

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Will the teenager get the chance to follow in her mum's footsteps? Viewers will have to wait until Saturday night to find out...

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