The Masked Singer Unveils New Format in Season 8 Premiere: Find Out Which Two Performers Were Unmasked
The Masked Singer‘s Season 8 premiere boldly went where the Fox reality show hadn’t gone before: It moved to having only one performer from the episode move on to the next round. The remaining three saw their Masked dreams die by the end of the hour — a major change from former iterations, in which most of the players were around for multiple episodes as the season progressed.
But did you like this new, different Masked Singer? In a moment, we’ll want to hear what you thought. But first, a quick recap.
The premiere’s four contestants were:
HARP | A powerhouse female vocalist who performed Pink’s “Perfect,” she was the early favorite to stick around for another week. Her clues included: luxury car fan; “I am telling you, life does have a funny way of putting you where you need to be”; allusions to auditioning for “the biggest show in the world” when she was a teen, but not getting picked; a scarecrow hat; winning awards for acting, singing and comedy — the last one “I got to share with my besties.” (Do we think this is Glee‘s Amber Riley maybe?)
HEDGEHOG | A British man of (I’m guessing) a certain age who called proudly announced that he’d been “naked in Playgirl” at some point in his career, he performed The Beatles’ “Love Me Do” with a marching band that distracted from his lack of vocal prowess. His clues included: a snake; “This isn’t my first big premiere”; he’s been part of the Olympics; “constant optimist”; Bradley Cooper, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey and Elon Musk are among his fans; he’s won a Tony and a Grammy.
HUMMINGBIRD | This guy seems like a jock, based solely on the amount of football references in his clues package. So it was pleasantly surprising to hear him do Gavin Degraw’s “I Don’t Want to Be” and hit all the notes well. Clues included: “This hummingbird knows a thing or two about competition. It’s in my DNA”; a patriotic team; a speaker; a ring; a cowboy hat; and “My special awards that are out of this world. They’re not exactly golden, they’re silver, but that doesn’t mean second place.”
KNIGHT | From the moment this man started speak-singing Fred Astaire’s “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” I knew precisely who he was. Clues included: “space cadet”; a bust of William Shakespeare, the solar system; references to working on stage, in TV, movies and with George Lucas; reference to throwing two chairs on national TV; a tape of covers; and a police badge.
SINGER WHO MOVED ON TO NEXT WEEK: Harp!
SINGER WHO WON’T MOVE ON BUT WHOM WE WON’T SEE UNMASKED UNTIL EPISODE 2: Hummingbird!
THE UNMASKINGS | Knight was revealed to be Star Trek‘s William Shatner. Hedgehog was revealed to be Monty Python’s Eric Idle.
What did you think of the premiere? Grade it via the poll below, then hit the comments with your thoughts on the new format!
The Harp is definitely Amber Riley, she brought up how she auditioned for the biggest show in the world but was rejected (that biggest show in the world would be American Idol) but she got to do better things, hence, Glee, hell the liked Luxury cars clue a Mercedes is a luxury car, she played Mercedes Jones on Glee, and that golden mask trophy will look great next to her mirrorball trophy (man have you noticed how many people that have done Dancing with the Stars and The Masked Singer, I’m pretty sure Apolo Ohno is in this season somewhere)
Unmistakably Amber Riley. She was one of the Good Witches in The Wiz Live! on NBC a few years ago, so I’m pretty sure that was the scarecrow hat and roses clue.
And at first I thought it was gay Lewis that was the hummingbird but now it’s likely someone from the 70’s Steelers maybe Mel Blount as he wears a cowboy hat and oh they even have a rule for him in the nfl
My first thought was Hines Ward, with the two superbowl rings–but my guesses are along the lines of Ken in terms of badness, lol.
The line quoted in the recap (“I am telling you, life does have a funny way of putting you where you need to be”) is also probably a reference to her singing “And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going” back in season one of Glee.
She also did Dreamgirls in the West End a few years ago. Another Glee/Broadway connection!
Four singers. One sings beautifully, all the others don’t. Gee, wonder who’s going on? Absolutely stupid, colossal waste of time. This new format has me gone. Peace out.
With three reveals, the audience does not get to know the masked celebrities. Those of us not conversant with the entertainment industry need the further clues.
The new format takes out the fun for me, which was figuring out who they are, which is near impossible after 1 episode, though tonight’s two were easy enough. I’m thinking the hummingbird isn’t a big name but a Patriot who was around for 2 of the Super Bowls, a Danny Amendola level player.
I agree that its not as much fun. I like getting to know much about each character through the weeks. I really hope they change the format. Just my opinion
I knew The Knight was William Shatner before he even “sang” a word. It was too easy.
You really could have had it on mute and picked him out. His body gestures were so much him.