‘The Masked Dancer’: Is Cotton Candy Olympic Gymnast Simone Biles?

On The Masked Dancer, it’s safe to say that Cotton Candy is one of the frontrunners to win the entire competition. But, who is behind the Cotton Candy mask? Over the weeks, the judges — Ashley Tisdale, Ken Jeong, Paula Abdul, and Brian Austin Green — have all shared guesses about Cotton Candy’s identity. Some of their more prevalent guesses include Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, actor Kristen Bell, Olympic figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, and actor Jenna Dewan.

Throughout the competition, the judges have pointed out that not only does Cotton Candy nail all of her moves during her routines, but she also has a small stature. For those reasons, the judges surmised that Cotton Candy might just be an athlete. As a result, on the Feb. 3 episode, the judges guessed that she could possibly be either Yamaguchi or Biles, particularly as many of the clues seemed to revolve around the Olympics. The judges also suggested that Hayden Panettiere could be behind the mask, as she has done training in the past for various roles. However, one of the most prevalent guesses from fans regarding Cotton Candy’s identity is Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas.

Gold Derby even laid out the reasons why Douglas could be behind the Cotton Candy mask. According to the publication, one of the recent clues for the mystery dancer featured diamond rings in the shape of the Olympic logo. Douglas competed at the Olympics twice (in 2012 and 2016) and walked away with three gold medals. The Masked Dancer revealed that the contestants on Season 1 have taken home four gold medals in total (it is believed that the Zebra may be Oscar De La Hoya, who received a gold medal in the lightweight division in the 1992 Summer Olympics). Of course, and as previously mentioned, there have been plenty of other guesses behind Cotton Candy’s identity.

During the season, Jeong asked Abdul, following one of Cotton Candy’s performances, “This is someone who’s a classically-trained dancer, right, Paula?” She responded, “It takes a trained dancer to be able to put that extra emotional connection, and I don’t know many people that can do something like that other than maybe my friend Jenna Dewan.” Dewan began her career as a dancer for Janet Jackson in the early 2000s, per Bustle. She has since gone on to showcase her moves in films such as Step Up. At the moment, Cotton Candy’s identity remains a mystery. So, in order to find out whether they’re Douglas, Dewan, or another individual, fans will have to stay tuned.