In the Battle round he was paired with Team Blake contestant Rebecca Brunner, both singing "This I Promise You" from NSYNC. Coach Shelton chose Tuaolo to go to the Knockouts round. In the Knockouts, he confronted Adam Cunningham. Tuaolo sang "Superstar" from Delaney & Bonnie made famous by The Carpenters and also famously covered by Luther Vandross. Coach Shelton opted to keep Tuaolo for the playoff round, eliminating Cunningham from his team. On the Playoffs broadcast on November 13, 2017, he sang "How Do I Live" from LeAnn Rimes. Blake Shelton, being forced to pick only three of his team's six finalists, chose to exclude Tuaolo from his final three, thus eliminating Tuaolo from the competition. Personal life Tuaolo is of Samoan descent. In 2002, having retired from sports in 1999, Tuaolo announced to the public that he is gay, coming out on HBO's Real Sports. This made him the third former NFL player to come out, after David Kopay and Roy Simmons. Another NFL player, Garrison Hearst, made anti-gay comments when he heard the news, but later he apologized. Tuaolo met his partner, Mitchell Wherley, at a nightclub in 1995, and the couple hid their relationship from the public. Between Tuaolo's retirement from the NFL and coming out as gay, he and Wherley adopted twin infants. a boy and a girl. Tuaolo and Wherley's relationship ended in 2007. Since coming out, Tuaolo has been a strong advocate for the LGBT community. For example, he has worked with the NFL to combat homophobia in the league and is a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation. He has testified at the Minnesota state legislature Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in opposition to an anti-gay marriage bill. He makes and has made appearances on various television programs, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Tyra Banks Show, Good Morning America and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, to talk about and combat homophobia. Tuaolo's current LGBT advocacy primarily involves speaking at colleges and corporations about the pervasiveness of homophobia and helping organizational leaders create a fair and safe environment for their members and employees. Tuaolo is also an author. His autobiography, Alone in the Trenches: My Life As a Gay Man in the NFL, was released in the spring of 2006. (). It details Tuaolo's upbringing and sheds light on how his experiences with poverty, sexuality, and football shaped him. See also Homosexuality