‘The Masked Dancer’ Unmasks the Cricket, and They’re a Famous Singer-Songwriter

On Wednesday night, four of the remaining celebrities in Group A competed on The Masked Dancer. Those individuals included Cricket, Exotic Bird, Hammerhead, and Tulip. As fans are well aware, one of those mystery dancers had to get the boot at the end of the episode. In the end, host Craig Robinson revealed that the Cricket was eliminated. They later removed their mask and revealed that they were celebrated singer-songwriter Brian McKnight.

Group A originally began with five celebrities competing to win the first season of The Masked Dancer. In addition to Cricket, Exotic Bird, Tulip, and Hammerhead, the Disco Ball competed during the Dec. 27 episode. They were eliminated at the end of the episode and the individual turned out to be Ice-T. Following his elimination, the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star spoke to Entertainment Weekly about his time on the show. In his interview, Ice-T explained that this wasn’t his first time showcasing his dance moves to fans. He even shared that his unmasking was a surprise to his five-year-old daughter Chanel, whom he shares with his wife, Coco Austin.

“Well, I was at Law & Order, and I was on the makeup chair and I get a call from my manager. He said they want me to do The Masked Dancer,” Ice-T said about the moment he was asked to do the Fox series. “I corrected him. I said, ‘No, it’s The Masked Singer.’ He says, ‘No, it’s The Masked Dancer, they got a new one coming out.’ And I used to be in the breakdance movies [Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo] — I was a b-boy. I used to dance. Those are days long gone, you know, my body don’t move like it used to.”

“So I’m like, ‘Well, I can’t dance like that.’ And he’s like, ‘Nah, you’re gonna have a helmet on. And it’s more of just a guessing game,’” the rapper continued. “Now, my daughter watches The Masked Singer because she likes the costumes, but when the heads come off, she doesn’t know any of the people. She’s only five years old. So I said to myself, how about if I do this, and she watches The Masked Dancer, and when the head comes off it’s me? That’ll blow her mind. So I said, “Yeah, let’s go.” And at this point in my career, you got to have fun with it. So I went for it.” In addition to Ice-T, Bill Nye the Science Guy and activist Elizabeth Smart have also been featured and, subsequently, eliminated from the competition.