Mary Sarah Gross was one of four artists eliminated from The Voice during Tuesday night's live results show on NBC.

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Mary Sarah, a 20-year-old from Richmond, TX, was sent home from The Voice along with Bryan Bautista, Paxton Ingram and Shalyah Fearing heading into next week's finale.

Mary, a member of Blake Shelton's team, was known for her effortless ability to mix traditional and contemporary country music. She sang "Something In the Water" as her survival song against Bryan and Laith Al-Saadi, but Laith came out on top and won the last spot in the finals with Alisan Porter, Adam Wakefield and Hannah Huston.

During a Wednesday interview, Mary Sarah talked about her experience on The Voice.

Reality TV World: Talk to me a little bit about your elimination. Were you surprised or did you see it coming beforehand? What emotions did you feel?

Mary Sarah: For me, going into Monday night, I think all of us -- we just tried to really focus on that night and that night only, knowing the cut was happening the next day. I feel like we all gave our best Monday night. And then on Tuesday, I think going into it, I had no expectations.

I didn't know what was going to happen, and you know, either way, I was completely happy and even proud of all of us and proud of myself for making it as far as we did. Top 8 is an incredible achievement for all of us, and this is just a door -- a big door that has opened for the rest of our lives.

We have opportunities now that we wouldn't have had before, and so, either way the night was going to go, I am extremely humbled and blessed by the whole experience and opportunity to just get to do what we did. I wouldn't take a single moment back.

Even after being eliminated, I had a moment where I cried, but then I thought, "You know what? This isn't the end for any of us." Everyone is so overwhelmingly talented. Everybody deserved to be there. No matter who made the Top 4, everyone deserved to be there, and so, yeah. I'm just blessed to have done what I've done.

Also during the conference call, Mary Sarah talked to reporters about topics ranging from her survival song choice to working with Blake.

Based on votes, are you surprised you landed in the bottom of the pack since you have such a large social media following?

Mary Sarah: I do have a very large social media following and I'm so thankful for The Voice because it added to that so much more... I believe everyone is here for a reason... And whoever wins deserves to win. Going into yesterday night, I had no clue who was going to make it [into the finale] and who wasn't, because we all gave so many amazing performances.

I didn't expect anything last night. You hope for the best and expect the worst, and last night went the way it was supposed to go. That's all in God's plan and I'm just thankful to have made it this far.

Why did you choose "Something in the Water" for your survival song, and do you think it was the right choice?

Mary Sarah: For my song, I love Carrie Underwood, obviously, you could tell on the show. She's been an influence in my life for quite a while. And when this song came out, "Something In the Water," I was in love with it and I've been singing it for quite a while.

We're given a list of songs and I saw that one on there and thought, "If anything, I want to do a song that's somewhat Christian, because I wouldn't be here without God in my life. And it's His plan and not mine." So, to go out worshiping like that was pretty cool, and it's something I knew I wouldn't regret.

What's next for you? What's your plan going forward?

Mary Sarah: I hope to maybe strike a label deal or even an agency and get on the road and be able to visit the fans I've made on the show and meet everybody and thank them for their support. I'm going to keep doing music in the future. I love it and I couldn't see doing anything else... I have grown a lot as an artist.

What is the best piece of advice that Blake gave you?

Mary Sarah: Blake was honestly -- when he has an artist [on his team], he throws himself fully into every artist and he really did [that]. For me, him and I have very similar voices. Every time I went in to work with him, the things that I struggled with a lot of the time, he struggled with too with his voice.

So it was amazing to just get to work with him through things and just have him understanding my voice in every way and just supporting me 100%. There's not a single thing I could say that stood out the most, because almost everything -- on and off-camera with him -- was absolutely amazing. He was one of the best coaches. He IS the best coach ever and I could not be more thankful to have worked with him.

Do you have any regrets?

Mary Sarah: We had been reminded from the beginning to lay it out there, and when picking songs, do a song you know you wouldn't regret. Our coaches and the whole The Voice crew helped us with that.

Looking back, I wouldn't change a single thing. I'm pretty proud of myself for song choices and proud of everyone who helped me along the way... I wouldn't take a single thing away. I loved every single part of this journey and have grown so much through it.

What advice would you give to a future contestant on The Voice?

Mary Sarah: As an artist, I have always said this -- and it's hard to live by your own advice -- but I've tried very hard to do that throughout this entire journey, and the one thing I would say is, "You've got to step out of your comfort zone to grow."

And looking at the challenge of The Voice and going into it, I realized it's a huge thing and it was going to be a long process and a lot of hard work. But you've got to be willing to take that step and have faith and just push towards your dream and work hard at it.

Another thing that I always say is, "Hard work beats talent if talent doesn't work hard." It's so true with all of us. We've all put so much hard work into this... I would recommend this show, honestly, to any artist.

It is a wonderful show... I feel like I know what it's going to be like now in the future in the music industry. For me, it was just taking a step of faith out there and putting yourself out there and getting in that uncomfortable place to grow.

Check back with Reality TV World soon for more interviews with The Voice semi-finalists Paxton, Shalyah and Bryan.


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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