The 31-year-old Michigan native was favored to make it through to the next round (and to potentially win the season), which made it all the more shocking when Carson revealed that Ryan had left the show before the episode aired.

"As a side note, Team Kelly's Ryan Gallagher had to exit the competition so the 4-Way winner was decided with the votes received from these three remaining artists," Carson said on the show, before pivoting to announce that Taryn Papa had won the round.

Carson did not give further details about Ryan's departure from the show, leading many fans to speculate about it on social media.

One popular theory was that Ryan had exited the hit NBC competition because of a family emergency. He had previously revealed on the show that his mother had been hospitalized while battling COVID-19. She has since been released from the ICU.

But Ryan himself refuted that on his Instagram stories on Nov. 30. He initially promised his 60,000 followers that he would go on Instagram live, but he later canceled that with a mysterious message.

"Hey everyone. I have to postpone the Instagram live. More information to follow," he wrote. "Prayers please." 

The cryptic messages about his exit from the show didn't end there.