The Voice contestant Ryan Gallagher ‘forced to leave show for breaking COVID-19 protocols’

Fans of The Voice were left confused Monday night when contestant Ryan Gallagher did not appear on the first live show of the season.

The mystery deepened when he posted to his Instagram Story that he ‘didn’t drop out of the show.’

However, on Tuesday, Billboard.com reported that Gallagher, 31, had been dropped from the reality competition for breaking COVID-19 protocols.

The Michigan native was barred from continuing in order to protect the health and safety of The Voice coaches, contestants and crew, according to Billboard.

Gallagher had revealed on the November 16 episode that his mom, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, had been hospitalized after contracting the coronavirus.

Before his performance of Celine Dion’s I Surrender, he spoke about how emotional he was feeling as a result of his mom’s illness.

‘I worked on this song through probably the hardest things I’ve gone through in my life,’ Gallagher said. ‘If I were to win this battle, it would mean more to me than just winning. It would be kind of a life battle for me, too, that I’m winning.’ 

In his Instagram Story post Monday night, he reassured his fans who’d expressed worries he was not on the show due to a family emergency.

‘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,’ Gallagher shared.

‘I didn’t drop out of the show. Details are still to come. I’ll keep you posted,’ he added. 

Gallagher, who was on coach Kelly Clarkson’s team, later shared a black-and-white photo of himself wearing a tuxedo and wrote: ‘2020 you are an interesting one.’