RILEY GREEN GETS AN UNEXPECTED PEP TALK FROM THE VOICE CONTESTANT WHO REJECTED HIM — AND THEIR HILARIOUS REUNION BRINGS BACK THE ONE DECISION HE STILL CAN’T LET GO! Hazel Gerson famously chose Kelly Clarkson over Riley during the Blind Auditions, leaving the country star with a bruised ego. When she returned for her Battle against Nina Howland, Riley couldn’t resist bringing up that memorable rejection. But Hazel caught him off guard with a sweet compliment and an apology. Even Adam Levine joined the teasing, turning an awkward exchange into one of the show’s funniest moments.

Poor Riley Green.

The Voice coach was still reeling from a big loss on Tuesday’s episode, three weeks after it happened.

Contestant Hazel Gerson, whose Blind Audition aired Sept. 21, appeared on stage Tuesday in the show’s Battles Round to face fellow contestant Nina Howland while repping Kelly Clarkson’s team.

While her performance went well, her interaction with Green was, uh, awkward. At least for him.

“Hello, Hazel,” the rookie coach said as if she were an ex-girlfriend who’d broken his heart.

“Hi, Riley,” she responded sweetly. “I think you’re so great! I think you’re the best.”

Then she was apologetic, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Coach Adam Levine came to Green’s defense: “Hazel, you really caused this man a lot of pain.”

But Green wasn’t down for long before he was back making quips.

“I turned my chair for both of you, and there’s only one of you that said and I quote, ‘I’m not good at making decisions, but in a million years, I would never want to be on your team, Riley.’ I think it was something like that.”

Of course, what Gerson actually said after her September audition turned the chairs of Green and Clarkson was, “I’m really bad with decisions, but this is an easy one.” Gerson chose to join Team Kelly.

Green then got serious and said each of the women had excelled on their duet of Sia’s “Breathe Me.”

“Y’all were both great, but Hazel, I saw your mom’s here,’ Green said, “and because your mom’s looking at me, I’m going to lean a bit Hazel.”

Clarkson noted that the song “does lend itself to someone who can be emotional, and both of you tied into that in very different ways.” She felt Gerson had been more outward with her emotion, while Howland was “far more introverted,” drawing in the audience. “So it’s very different in a beautiful way.”

When host Carson Daly asked Clarkson to make her decision, she appeared to fight back tears and said, “I’m not ready. I’m not ready.”

“This is a big song,” Clarkson added, as her voice broke. “It’s one of my favorite songs. Look, when it comes down to this, and I don’t know which way to go, I do incorporate the Blinds. And I incorporate what you chose and what you did.”

“I’m gonna pick specifically who I think will do well going down the gauntlet that is the Lives, and I’m gonna say the winner of this Battle is Nina.”

When Gerson said her goodbyes, she told Clarkson that working with her was an honor.

“Kelly, getting to work with you has been such an incredible privilege that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. And there’s nobody — sorry, Riley, I love you too, I do — there’s no one I would have rather had guide me, so thank you so much.”

When he addressed the camera, Green noted that he “had to give Hazel a little bit of a hard time. I hated to see her go home, because she is very talented, but Nina just really did a great job.”

Before the next contestants arrived, coach Queen Latifah told Clarkson that she’d miss Gerson.

“I’m not,” Clarkson said. “I’m gonna keep in contact, so we’re good. Purely just because of her hatred of Riley.”

She and Levine agreed that there’s a maturity to Howland’s voice.

The Voice’s Battle Rounds continue Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and stream the next day on Peacock.