Mysterious exit on 'The Voice' after contestant allegedly breaks COVID protocols

The Voice went live for the first time this season with the Top 17 contestants and, while we already knew 16 of those names, the final spot was filled by the winner of the publicly voted four-way Knockout from last week. However, at the top of the show, host Carson Daly revealed that one of those four contestants was no longer part of the competition.

Carson announced, “As a side note, Team Kelly’s Ryan Gallagher had to exit the competition” – without any further explanation.

Voice fans were immediately worried for Gallagher and his family, since he had mentioned that both his mother and grandmother had contracted COVID-19 earlier this year, and because Gallagher posted to his Instagram story just seven hours before the show that he would be cancelling an IG live, with "More information to follow. Prayers please," followed by a video in which he shared, “Thank you everybody for your concern for my family. However, everybody’s fine. That’s not the cause of what happened tonight on The Voice. I didn’t drop out of the show. Details are still to come. I’ll keep you posted.”

However, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told Yahoo Entertainment that the coronavirus was in fact the reason for Ryan’s abrupt exit, though no further details were given -- only saying that the show “has strict COVID protocols in place to secure a safe set” and “Ryan broke those protocols,” so, “out of an abundance of caution,” it was decided that he could not continue in the competition and “potentially put others at risk.” As of this writing, Gallagher has not yet responded to this allegation.

So with Gallagher out of the running, Carson announced that Team Blake Shelton's Taryn Papa won the four way knockout and the 17th spot in Monday's show.

Video Transcript

[INTRO MUSIC]

CARSON DALY: The artist moving on to the top 17 and performing tonight is--

[UPBEAT HIP-HOP MUSIC]

- "The Voice" went live for the first time this season with the top 17 contestants, and while we already knew 16 of those names, the final spot was filled by the winner of the publicly-voted four-way knockout from last week. However, at the top of the show, Host Carson Daly revealed that one of those four contestants was no longer part of the competition.

CARSON DALY: As a side note, Team Kelly's Ryan Gallagher had to exit the competition, so the four-way winner-- it was decided based on the votes received for these three remaining artists.

- "The Voice" fans were immediately worried for Ryan and his family since he had mentioned that both his mother and grandmother had contracted COVID-19 earlier this year and because Ryan posted to his Instagram Story just seven hours before the show that he would be canceling an IG live with more information to follow. That was followed by this video.

RYAN GALLAGHER: Thank you, everybody, for your concern for my family. However, everybody's fine. That's not the cause of what happened tonight on "The Voice." I didn't drop out of the show. Details are still to come. I'll keep you posted.

- While Ryan's mysterious exit left viewers confused, one source with direct knowledge of the situation called "Yahoo Entertainment" that COVID was, in fact, the reason for Ryan's abrupt departure. Though no further details were given, this source stated that the show has strict COVID protocols in place to secure a safe set, and Ryan broke those protocols.

So with Ryan out of the running, Carson announced that Team Blake Shelton's Taryn Papa won the four-way knockout and the 17th spot in Monday's show.

CARSON DALY: Taryn was nervous to talk. She's got to gather herself because she's going to be performing tonight. Taryn, go get ready for your performance. Go any way you want. Just be careful how you get there, all right?