‘The Masked Singer’: 7 Most Incredible Reveals Ever

The Fox competition The Masked Singer returns for its fifth season premiere on Wednesday, March 10 at 8 p.m. ET, and fans can’t wait to see which celebrities will sing their hearts out before the big reveal. Judges Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke are all set to return — Thick teased that “The level of star power in Season 5 is at another level!” — and Claws actress Niecy Nash will be filling in as guest host for the first part of the season after regular host Nick Cannon tested positive for COVID-19 last month.

“I was honored to stand in the gap and just be a tiny placeholder for him, for his franchise and his series,” Nash said to Entertainment Tonight. Nash teased that a “very huge star” would be unmasked this season and explained that the casting secrets were seriously locked down. “They keep those secrets like they are in a vault,” she explained. “Nobody knows who these people are… I didn’t know anything. [There] was nothing for me to come back home and tell!”

As you count down the days until the premiere, revisit some of the wildest reveals over from the first four seasons. No show does insanity quite the same as The Masked Singer.

Lil Wayne

The rapper appeared on the post-Super Bowl episode of the third season, and viewers were shocked when he was unmasked as The Robot. Lil Wayne originally wanted his protege Nicki Minaj to appear on the show, but producers had a different idea. “I’ve been watching since the first episode, because the first episode, when it came on I knew it was T-Pain,” Lil Wayne said. “Because of that, I told [Young Money President Mack Maine] to call them. I told him, ‘Let ’em know I’m a huge fan’ and I wanted to get Nicki on there. I was like, ‘Tell ’em I would love to get Nicki on there.’ And it came back like, ‘Man they want you on there.’”

Margaret Cho

The Poodle lasted four weeks in the first season before she was unmasked as Margaret Cho. Jeong should have gotten been able to guess this contestant, considering Cho appeared in his show Dr. Ken for two years as his sister and he served as her opening act on the stand-up comedy circuit in the ’90s. Cho was drawn to The Masked Singer because of her love of Korean television. “I am always very open to doing any Korean adaptation,” she explained. “Like I am obsessed with Korean television. On the Korean version–at least the ones I saw–the costumes are not as lavish. It’s very Korean style.”

Mickey Rourke

The Oscar nominee appeared in the fourth season as the Gremlin and was notable because he self-eliminated after his first-round performance of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me.” Rourke cited his hot costume as the reason he unmasked himself, and the panel of judges looked genuinely shocked in the moment. Rourke claimed in his post-elimination interview that he did the show because he wanted to do  “something different.”

Gladys Knight

Gladys Knight appeared as the Bee in the first season, and viewers who were still new to the show were shocked at the level of star power that she brought. Knight set the stage for divas like Dionne Warwick, Chaka Khan, and Patti LaBelle to appear in later seasons.

Tony Hawk

The X-Games champion might not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of singing, but the skater gave it his best shot. Hawk appeared as The Elephant in season 3 and was the first contestant to go home in Group B, so while he didn’t have long to compete, he still blew some minds when he was unmasked.

Rob Gronkowski

The NFL player was the White Tiger in season 3, but the strangest thing about this reveal was that he lasted longer in the competition than legendary singer Chaka Khan. Khan told Billboard that The Masked Singer was the “weirdest” gig she ever did and didn’t speak well of the experience. “What part did I really enjoy? It was really a labor of love… some kind of labor,” she said. “It was really harder than I thought it would it be. It’s a lot of work.”

Sarah Palin

However, the weirdness of The Masked Singer reached a fever pitch when former Governor of Alaska and Vice President hopeful Sarah Palin performed Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” as the Bear in season three. America has never felt more dystopian.