The singer shocked coach Gwen Stefani by exiting the NBC series during the Knockout rounds.

The Voice season 26 is full of twists and turns, and it looks like folks got one more curveball ahead of the live shows.

Last week, folks watched as Tanner Frick (a contestant on Michael Bublé‘s team) chose to exit the competition ahead of the Knockout rounds. Well, on the November 18 episode of the NBC series, viewers saw Mor Ilderton make a similar decision, when he surprised his coach Gwen Stefani by deciding to quit before he had the chance to compete against Jan Dan and Sydney Sterlace in his Knockout. As Gwen told her Mega Mentor Sting, she wasn’t expecting this to occur, leaving her with just two artists for that round of the competition.

“We had Mor, who I stole, but he had to go home, so it’s just gonna be the two of them,” she explained, per Entertainment Weekly.

NBC Universal

So, what occurred that caused Mor to decide he’d no longer be a part of The Voice season 26? Although the exact reason behind his surprise exit hasn’t been shared publicly, he did share some new about the future of his music career on Instagram ahead of the episode airing. As he posted a clip of him singing, he revealed he’d be releasing a single called “Stranger” on November 22.

“Yo I’m Mor!!” he wrote over the snippet on November 14. “You may know me from this season of NBC’s The Voice. If not I’m a folk artist out of WV and I’m releasing a single Nov 22nd called ‘Stranger’ and it’s the song that’s playing now! Come along on this journey with me.”

Folks may remember Mor for delivering a haunting rendition of Dylan Gossett’s “Coal” for the Blind auditions. He managed to get a four-chair turn from Gwen, Michael, Reba McEntire and Snoop Dogg, before eventually choosing to be a part of Team Michael. After he initially lost in the Battle round against Kiara Vega, Gwen stole him for her team, where he was meant to perform with Jan and Sydney in the Knockout round.

As for what happened with Jan and Sydney, both of them lucked out due to Mor’s exit. While Sydney won the Knockout, both were saved and made it to the Playoff round with mgk coming in as Gwen’s advisor.

We wish Mor the best on the next phase of his career!

Adrianna Freedman
Editorial Assistant

As the entertainment and news editorial assistant for Good Housekeeping, Adrianna (she/her) writes about everything TV, movies, music and pop culture. She graduated from Yeshiva University with a B.A. in journalism and a minor in business management. She covers shows like The Rookie, 9-1-1 and Grey’s Anatomy, though when she’s not watching the latest show on Netflix, she’s taking martial arts or drinking way too much coffee.