Another ‘Voice’ Singer Quits Unexpectedly, Abandoning Team in Knockout Round

Another The Voice contestant has unexpectedly quit the competition. During the final night of the Knockouts round of the competition Monday, singer Mor Ilderton abruptly quit Gwen Stefani’s team, leaving the coach with just two remaining singers, Jan Dan and Sydney Sterlace. His departure comes just a week after country singer Tanner Frick abandoned Michael Bublé’s team.

Ilderton’s shocking exit news was revealed during rehearsals when Stefani told her team’s Mega Mentor, Sting, that Ilderton “had to go home,” per Deadline. The news left only Jan Dan and Sterlace to compete in the round. Both made it through to the Playoffs, with Sterlace as the winner and Jan Dan as Stefani’s save.

Stefani didn’t provide further explanation for Ilderton’s unexpected departure from the competition, and Ilderton hasn’t addressed the news himself. However, the Charleston, West Virginia native is set to release a new single, “Stranger,” on Nov. 22. He has been promoting the song on his socials in recent days

The current season of the hit NBC singing competition has been rocked with numerous shakeups. During the Nov. 11 episode, Tanner Frick dropped out of the competition. Host Carson Daly told Michael Bublé at the time, “Michael, Tanner [Frick] left the competition after rehearsals. You still have Cameron [Wright] and Sloane [Simon].”

Similar to Ilderton, the reason for Frick’s exit is unclear. Frick has, however, returned to social media, sharing a TikTok of himself singing in a recording booth that he captioned, “Ain’t nobody want me anyway.”

According to his NBC bio, Ilderton began his music career five years ago when he “spontaneously picked up a guitar and discovered he had a knack for playing.” He soon added singing to his talents. Although he went to college to pursue a biology degree, he continued his musical interests, sharing songs on TikTok and releasing a track, “Welcome Sign,” that recently surpassed 125,000 streams on all platforms.

Ilderton took the next step in his music career when he performed Dylan Gossett’s “Coal” for his Blind Audition for The Voice Season 26. Although performance saw Bublé, Snoop Dogg, and Reba McEntire, he chose Bublé’s team. He later joined team Stefani after she used one of her steals to snag him when he lost to Kiara Vega in a duet of the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” during the Battles. At the time, Stefani said, “I just got this feeling like, I know what to do with that guy, My favorite thing about Mor’s voice is it just has a unique, raspy undone tone. When you hear music out there, his voice feels like what’s happening right now in the world.”

New episodes of The Voice air Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Episodes are available to stream on Peacock the next day.