‘The Masked Singer’ Reveals the Turtle, and They’re a Pop Singer

The Season 3 finale of The Masked Singer was down to the big three: the Turtle, the Frog and the Night Angel. While fans had already made their guesses who was hiding behind their costumes, it was the Night Angel who took home the golden mask, meaning the Turtle, who was revealed to be singer/songwriter Jesse McCartney, ended up coming in second. The Frog, who turned out to be rapper and actor Bow Wow, got third place.

It’s been quite the season for the singing competition series overall, which has seen the likes of Lil Wayne (as the Robot) to Sarah Palin (as the Bear) compete, only to ultimately be unmasked and dismissed. On the May 13 episode, MLB legend Mike Zito was underneath The Rhino costume, which judge Ken Jeong had previously guessed. There’s a first time for everything.

Executive producer Craig Plestis told Variety ahead of Wednesday night’s finale about the nature of The Masked Singer, and how its rigorous shooting schedule helped keep it ahead of the coronavirus shutdown. “Because it is such a top-secret show, that we really try to get a little bit of advance on it and bank these,” he said, adding that the “security portion” of the show works “so we can keep that guessing game alive for everyone.”

Plestis also weighed in on the possible identities of the big three. “If you do pay attention, you can figure it out, he explained. He also added that people have “every chance possible” to guess the identities, before praising the upcoming finale. “All the songs that are that our contestants do are phenomenal. It’s larger than life,” he said. “It’s one of the best hours of television that’s going to come out this year.”

Though the finale definitely brought the spectacle, not all the show’s viewers were impressed with the trio of contestants left standing ahead of the finale. After Zito’s elimination on May 13, a vocal contingency of viewers took to Twitter to claim that the season’s best singer was ousted ahead of time.

Zito himself spoke to Entertainment Weekly about his ousting from The Masked Singer, specifically the fact he was “shocked” that he made it as far as he did. “I would bet my left leg that the [other contestants] have been singing on stage their whole life. For me to be with them, I just felt like any song I would have sung, I would have been eliminated. They were so incredible.