The mystery of Wyatt Pike

Leading up to the first American Idol live show of the season on Monday night, it seemed like the biggest headline would be about country star Luke Bryan: Earlier in the day, he tweeted that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus and would miss the episode.

“I'm doing well and look forward to being back at it soon,” he wrote.

At the top of the telecast, host Ryan Seacrest confirmed as much and introduced guest judge (and original Idol panellist) Paula Abdul, who joined Lionel

Richie and Katy Perry to narrow down the Top 16 singers to the Top 12. But the news was quickly overshadowed as Seacrest made another announcement.

“Before we get to the results, I have to tell you that finalist Wyatt Pike will not be competing in the competition. He had to drop out,” Seacrest said. “But we wish him the very best.”

He moved on and offered no explanation, and the topic did not come up again for the rest of the show.

Twitter lit up in a frenzy, with fans wondering what happened to Pike, a 20-yearold singer-songwriter from Park City, Utah. Reactions ranged from curiosity to extreme concern, and quite a few noted he was their favourite singer in the competition.

Pike also gained more than 10,000 Instagram followers in three hours as people raced over to his account to comb for clues. His last post, from five days ago, showed a picture of his hometown. But according to a comment he wrote, he appeared to be in Los Angeles, where Idol is filmed.

When reached Monday night, a spokesperson for Idol said, “Wyatt could not continue due to personal reasons, and we cannot comment further.”

It's a rare situation for the long-running reality series. Pike impressed the judges early with an original song he wrote for his younger sister, called Best For You. Richie called him the “Park City James Taylor” and noted he was a “fabulous storyteller.”

Pike made it through to the Hollywood round at the Dolby Theatre, where he sang a cover of George Ezra's Blame It on Me.

“I've realized over 19 years that music is the thing for me. I've gone from playing hotels and restaurants in my hometown and posting things online,” he said. “Getting on the Dolby stage and performing with a big band

for the biggest show is definitely a big change. I feel pretty excited.”

If anyone at Idol knew before Monday Pike dropped out of the competition, the news did not reach the show's social media accounts: Less than three hours before the episode started, the official Idol Twitter feed told everyone to show some love to the Top 16, which included Pike.

Wyatt Pike