S02.E04: Once Upon a Mask

[OtterMommy]

Air date: 10/16/2019

[LizDC]

99% sure the leopard is Seal.  The clue 1963 is his birth year and he sounded exactly like him. 

[Was-MArsenault]

I'm surprised that there was no Smackdown tonight.

[galaxygirl76]

47 minutes ago, LizDC said:

99% sure the leopard is Seal.  The clue 1963 is his birth year and he sounded exactly like him. 

Yeah the birth year seals it for me(no pun intended) 

[Fukui San]

I wonder if the judges get close to figuring it out for certain whether that triggers an elimination. If two judges fixate on Paul Schaeffer then why not eliminate him over Thingamajig or whoever? Presuming that there are some sort of shenanagans involved.

I like Thingamajig's voice, but he's done two ballads in a row and shows no showmanship as of yet.

[Commando Cody]

I'm still pretty sure Thingamajig (Thing a magic) is a basketball player with the Orlando Magic. I think his jersey is, was, #4. 

I think black widow could be the middle sister from Fuller House.  Jodie Sweeten.  

After this performance I guessed Paul Schaffer.  

I still think the leopard could be Ru Paul. 

Billy Porter is playing the fairy Godmother on Cinderella. So he has something to promote if he were to be one of the masked singers.  Like the Leopard. 

Has the butterfly been on before?  I have no recollection of her. Her voice seemed kind of familiar though. Just the way she inflected things. 

[truebluesmoky]

According to his Wikipedia page, Seal was raised by foster parents, which goes along with tonight’s clue package.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, truebluesmoky said:

According to his Wikipedia page, Seal was raised by foster parents, which goes along with tonight’s clue package.

That, along with his voice, is the thing that clinched it for me. The additional clues also match. Seal worked at McDonald’s for two weeks when is was a teenager and there was a rose (Kiss from a Rose) on the wall behind him. 

[Was-MArsenault]

So I wonder if the Smackdown was only just for a few episodes and that’s it.

Or will there be more?

[Mindthinkr]

8 hours ago, Commando Cody said:

I still think the leopard could be Ru Paul. 

That’s been the direction that I’m thinking as well. 

[luna1122]

I feel reasonably confident that the Leopard is Seal, The Black Widow is Raven Symone and the Butterfly Michelle Williams. But I'm often wrong.

[Bali]

I still believe Thingamajig is Victor Oladipo from the Pacers. Sounds JUST like him. 

[vibeology]

8 minutes ago, luna1122 said:

I feel reasonably confident that the Leopard is Seal, The Black Widow is Raven Symone and the Butterfly Michelle Williams. But I'm often wrong.

Same.

Everytime one of them guesses Mel B for the Butterfly, I just want to die a little. Mel B has a crazy thick accent when she talks that we're not hearing through the distortion at all and her voice is deeper and raspier than that Butterfly. Michelle Williams makes so much more sense. She lived in London when she was working on the West End and the whole hiding away thing fits because she had to leave her last Broadway show on doctor's orders for an undisclosed condition and because she had a reality show with her finance and then they called off their engagement.

I wasn't sold on Seal because I couldn't figure out the costume, but the voice is his and the clues tonight confirm it for me. Raven fits the Black Widow clues as well. I'm less familiar with her voice. I do think it'd be funny if Raven and Adrienne Bailon are both on the show this year.

I get that the Thingamajig isn't the best singer ever, but I do want to defend him. His tone is lovely, he's got great phrasing and he knows how to sell a song. The basketball player people named who I can't remember makes perfect sense. His fame comes from something other than singing but he's good enough to get a vanity album made.

[Fukui San]

The only basketball player I’ve ever heard sing (and sing well) is former Celtic Walter McCarty, who is not famous enough for this show. 

Plenty of rapping ballers, of course. 

[blackwing]

My two favourites from last night were Butterfly and Black Widow.  Butterfly's performance was way more muted and less energetic than her rousing "Bang Bang" but I really enjoyed her "Livin on a Prayer".  I like Black Widow's "Before He Cheats" as well.

I'm calling it now, Thingamajig is going to win.  He made Robin and Nicole cry.  I thought he sang well but if the contestants are also being judged on performance skills, he really has none.

People are saying that Leopard is Seal and I do think I heard more of his voice tonight.  But I'm just not impressed.  Has he just aged badly and can't sing anymore?  I thought his performance was very lackluster.

[Fukui San]

4 hours ago, MikaelaArsenault said:

So I wonder if the Smackdown was only just for a few episodes and that’s it.

Or will there be more?

Every episode so far has been structured so that there were six songs performed. First four episodes: Introducing four characters w/ songs + two song Smackdown. This episode and next: six characters, one song each. I'm guessing it'll come back when the numbers warrant the extra time.

[galaxygirl76]

3 hours ago, Bali said:

I still believe Thingamajig is Victor Oladipo from the Pacers. Sounds JUST like him. 

Me too. He was drafted by the Magic. I believe at one point there was a Star Wars reference, he was born on May 4th which is Star Wars day. His jersey number is a 4.

[blackwing]

15 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

Every episode so far has been structured so that there were six songs performed. First four episodes: Introducing four characters w/ songs + two song Smackdown. This episode and next: six characters, one song each. I'm guessing it'll come back when the numbers warrant the extra time.

True... but the Smackdown performances were like 30 second snippets, not a full song.  I wish there was more transparency in how they determine who is eliminated.  With the Smackdowns, we were told the panelists decided who would go home.  Last night we were told the votes of the audience and the panelists would be tallied and lowest vote getter goes home.  So if we are going by what we are told, the panelists sometimes have more power, sometimes they don't.

They should show us the votes just so we see how close things are.  I know they never will, which makes the voting aspect all the more extraneous.

[galaxygirl76]

As a long time fan of the show this warmed my heart:

Quote

So are you expecting to get a call from Dave tomorrow?
He called me a couple of weeks ago! He knows about these nondisclosure agreements. So he says to me on the phone, “You don’t have to say anything, but I know it’s you. I know how you walk.” That’s how he recognized me, from my walk. We were together every day for 33 years, after all.

https://ew.com/tv/2019/10/16/the-masked-singer-skeleton-paul-shaffer-interview/

[Bali]

4 hours ago, galaxygirl76 said:

Me too. He was drafted by the Magic. I believe at one point there was a Star Wars reference, he was born on May 4th which is Star Wars day. His jersey number is a 4.

He also said something about the worst day of his life was when he went to rehab. I think everyone thought- OH drug rehab. But with his knee injury he had PT rehab. It might also be why when this was recorded, he wasn't moving around a lot. Because he had a bum knee. And you can buy his album or watch his videos. It's the same voice.

[Eolivet]

I think the Leopard is Seal too, but I'm baffled why the judges think the English allusions in his costume and the accent are some character designed to throw everyone off instead of a pretty big clue. Has anyone ever pretended to have a different accent? The guy dresses up in a freaking Elizabethan collar, and the judges go, "yep, that's Jamie Foxx."

[BoogieBurns]

Raven's voice is almost as familiar to me as Miss Patty Labelle's. I have not an ounce of doubt that Black Widow is Raven. But I do want to know if there is any record of her injury on social media this summer. I couldn't find ANYTHING.

I'd love to hear Seal do his actual singing voice. He's far better than Leopard's been. So, if you are Seal, sing like it. It didn't go away, I heard that signature voice on the Popstar soundtrack just a couple years back. 

Also, Michelle Williams is the butterfly. No doubt.

[GenerationX]

I agree with most that Leopard is Seal.  The 1963 clue clinched it for me.

I don’t think for a second that the voting matters or counts.  The producers know who they want to unmask each week and do whatever math is necessary with the audience and panel votes to make it happen.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, BoogieBurns said:

Raven's voice is almost as familiar to me as Miss Patty Labelle's. I have not an ounce of doubt that Black Widow is Raven. But I do want to know if there is any record of her injury on social media this summer. I couldn't find ANYTHING.

I couldn’t find anything either but in the posts she did make at the time this was filming you can’t see her left arm. 

[marykat71702]

Props to those who guessed Paul Schaffer-I thought it was Martin Short until he sang tonight, then I knew I was wrong.

I still think the Black Widow is Raven, and that Thingamajig is someone who plays(or played for) Orlando Magic. Others have said Victor something(sorry, can't recall his last name right now), so... 

I don't think Leopard is Seal, but who knows?

I'm going to go with Mel B. being Butterfly and Adrienne Bailon being Flamingo because it makes sense to me, but again could be totally wrong.

On 10/17/2019 at 12:08 AM, Dani said:

That, along with his voice, is the thing that clinched it for me. The additional clues also match. Seal worked at McDonald’s for two weeks when is was a teenager and there was a rose (Kiss from a Rose) on the wall behind him. 

Well then dang, maybe it IS Seal...

[jonaswan2]

3 hours ago, marykat71702 said:

I'm going to go with Mel B. being Butterfly and Adrienne Bailon being Flamingo because it makes sense to me, but again could be totally wrong.

I think the British thing is throwing people off. She has a similar vocal quality and "grit," but Mel B is no soul singer and is certainly no soprano. The woman is essentially a tenor considering her vocal range and sound.

Remember, Michelle Williams lived in London for a time while performing in Chicago, and she competed in the British version of Dancing with the Stars.

[Was-MArsenault]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7582449/Butterfly-Masked-Singer-reveals-electrocuted-rehearsal-Livin-Prayer.html

[Gupwalla]

On 10/16/2019 at 11:04 PM, truebluesmoky said:

According to his Wikipedia page, Seal was raised by foster parents, which goes along with tonight’s clue package.

Be careful with confirmation bias - Jamie Foxx was given up by his birth parents and raised by his grandparents; his ILC costar Tommy Davidson was abandoned as an infant. And either of those arguably hits the “Living Color” and “prime time” clues much better, though each also presents some problems. (As does Seal, since neither of those seem to apply to him)

I’m pretty sure also that I’ve seen all of those perform as fast food workers in sketches. So a lot depends on whether you think the clues refer to the celebs or their career personas...

Leopard in general has one of the most befuddling clue packages on the show so far (which might be a clue that he lasts a while). Just as a random other example - the Improv Comedy Movement is dated to 1963 when the first NY Improv opened. So that might not be the celeb’s birthday, but the birthday of the celeb’s career association (assuming any of the ILC clues are relevant). So, deep rabbit hole indeed.

All that said, I’m more inclined to see Seal as Leopard after Round 2. It’s either him or a gifted impersonator doing their best Seal impression.

All I know for certain is that Leopard is left handed (which isn’t really a help in this instance.)

[saber5055]

I have to laugh that every guess, this year and last season, has included Neil Patrick Harris. And add Jamie Foxx to the same over-and-over guesses. It's either a standing joke or judge audio is being replayed as VOs on every episode.

[kita]

On 10/17/2019 at 4:58 PM, Bali said:

He also said something about the worst day of his life was when he went to rehab. I think everyone thought- OH drug rehab. But with his knee injury he had PT rehab. It might also be why when this was recorded, he wasn't moving around a lot. Because he had a bum knee. And you can buy his album or watch his videos. It's the same voice.

THIS. I had been convinced by commenters that it was Oladipo, then heard that clue and thought, "that doesn't sound right?" Went to search for whether he had any substance abuse issue and an article pops up about him "rehabbing" from that injury. Bam.

[Was-MArsenault]

First guest host of the season will be Anthony Anderson, and this will be on November 6:

[Was-MArsenault]

For those of you who missed the first 4 episodes of the show, The Masked Singer's YouTube channel has the full episodes posted.

[Was-MArsenault]

There will be two episodes next week to make up for the World Series.

[Booklady1017]

On 10/17/2019 at 1:08 AM, Dani said:

That, along with his voice, is the thing that clinched it for me. The additional clues also match. Seal worked at McDonald’s for two weeks when is was a teenager and there was a rose (Kiss from a Rose) on the wall behind him. 

I didn't pick up on all that. Thanks guys.

On 10/17/2019 at 8:01 AM, Mindthinkr said:

That’s been the direction that I’m thinking as well. 

I was thinking him or Billy Porter.

On 10/17/2019 at 8:46 AM, Bali said:

I still believe Thingamajig is Victor Oladipo from the Pacers. Sounds JUST like him. 

He's the only basketball player I know who can sing. So it's possible. I thought it was Wayne Brady but I'm not sure the clues fit.

[Booklady1017]

On 10/17/2019 at 8:47 AM, vibeology said:

Same.

Everytime one of them guesses Mel B for the Butterfly, I just want to die a little. Mel B has a crazy thick accent when she talks that we're not hearing through the distortion at all and her voice is deeper and raspier than that Butterfly. Michelle Williams makes so much more sense. She lived in London when she was working on the West End and the whole hiding away thing fits because she had to leave her last Broadway show on doctor's orders for an undisclosed condition and because she had a reality show with her finance and then they called off their engagement.

I wasn't sold on Seal because I couldn't figure out the costume, but the voice is his and the clues tonight confirm it for me. Raven fits the Black Widow clues as well. I'm less familiar with her voice. I do think it'd be funny if Raven and Adrienne Bailon are both on the show this year.

I get that the Thingamajig isn't the best singer ever, but I do want to defend him. His tone is lovely, he's got great phrasing and he knows how to sell a song. The basketball player people named who I can't remember makes perfect sense. His fame comes from something other than singing but he's good enough to get a vanity album made.

I'm convinced it's Raven Symone for the Black Widow based on the voice, body shape and that she's from Georgia. Not sure on the others. 

[Was-MArsenault]

On 10/31/2019 at 8:58 PM, Booklady1017 said:

I'm convinced it's Raven Symone for the Black Widow based on the voice, body shape and that she's from Georgia. Not sure on the others. 

Wayne Brady for the Fox and Patti Labelle for the Flower.