Masked Singer Takes Off Everyone's Mask -- With a Twist -- Boots Blockbuster Movie Star

This is the point of the season where things get really, really hard. As good as Seashell was, it was fairly clear that she wasn’t a professional singer or performer. The final six on “The Masked Singer,” however, are all pros.

They’re also all very, very good, meaning it’s going to more than likely come down to who has an off-week when it’s time to decide who gets to “take it off” next. That’s certainly what happened this week, as a fan-favorite faltered ever so slightly and paid the ultimate price.

Okay, maybe taking a mask off and revealing your identity on a silly show like this isn’t exactly paying the ultimate price. Forgive us for being a little over-dramatic. Perhaps we were inspired by this week’s guest panelist, singer and “This Is Us” star Chrissy Metz.

She certainly knows a thing or two about dramatics, as her show is easily one of the most emotional shows on television -- and you know they’re doing that to us on purpose! She also proved herself a rather adept guesser, coming in late to the game and really bringing some deep music knowledge with her.

It was a wild week for the “Spicy Six,” too, with Yeti showing us a whole new side of his talent and Robopine took on a whole boy band by himself. Russian Dolls and Piglet each tried to connect with beautifully heartfelt ballads, while both Black Swan and Chameleon tackled dense, acrobatic lyrics.

It was certainly a night of surprises! Perhaps the biggest being that they went ahead and unmasked everyone as part of their clue packages. But there's a twist, so you'll just have to keep reading to find out how they pulled it off (so to speak).

Let’s jump right in with this week’s masks. And don’t worry, before we get to the shocking unmasking, we're going to make you power through the terrible (and occasionally good) guesses made by our illustrious panel of Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong and Nicole Scherzinger first. We do this because we love ... to torture you.

Yeti showed off all kinds of different sides to his talent tonight, taking on an old-school rap classic -- and slaying it -- and delivering sharp and memorably choreography with it. He raps with such confidence and consistent quality, we find ourselves picturing him more of a hip-hop/R&B artist who’s been known to do both, as he broke our hearts vocally last week and then brought the party just now..

Guesses: This week, Yeti opened up about his children, how they’re the inspiration behind everything he does -- including this show. While he was being interviewed about that, where he revealed a close tie to his nana, the secret agents delivered the clues.

At one point, we saw one of them holding five ice cream cones while he talked about kids (does he have five, then?). We also saw a stuffed panda bear, a clear focus on a blue pacifier and someone cutting fabric … all of this taking place in front of a roaring fireplace.

This week’s gimmick is a “mind reader,” which revealed corn on the cob. “Corn popped into my mind,” which had the panel thinking maybe a pop star, but if we’re thinking about Twitter’s favorite guess, we might recall that little Omarion starred in a Corn Pops commercial!

Another gimmick of the week was that everyone took off their masks to be interviewed directly for the cameras. But it wasn't nearly as helpful as you might think, unless you're a head shape expert. Let's just say, they were definitely still Covid safe!

Ken noted that Jason Derulo chipped a tooth on corn on the cob on TikTok, but the pacifier took him to Vin Diesel’s “The Pacifier” and then he dared suggest that Vin doesn’t have moves like that. We got the receipts on this one (he even taught breakdancing technique) with a Vin Diesel YouTube favorite:.

Chrissy was thinking Trey Songz, as he recently had a child, but also wondered if it could be Miguel, based on a Viceland documentary he did about going to Mexico that dealt with corn. The internet, meanwhile, was feeling that performance and not even considering anyone other than Omarion for who’s behind the mask … and those moves.

Robopine skipped the chorus of this Boyz II Men classic, only doing short ad libs during it … and then it just ended. So while we we thought he did very well with everything he did, it also felt like we got short-changed a full performance we could really resonate with and connect to. Maybe had he made it into a second verse, as he was interpreting those in interesting ways, it would have felt more satisfying.

Guesses: Tyrese has been a guess for Robopine for a bit now, and as soon as he started talking about a project he was involved in inspiring a theme park ride, and how a dear friend of his was no longer here after having passed (while showing theater masks), we couldn’t help but go right to Paul Walker and the “Fast & Furious” franchise.

The masks indicated he was talking about his acting career, and suddenly it’s really hard to imagine anyone else fitting such specific clue parameters. Elsewhere in the clue package, we saw a stack of books and a plate with two sunny-side-up eggs, a stick of butter and two pieces of toast.

He brought up the theme park, because he said it was one of his earliest and favorite memories. He also shared that his family struggled when he was growing up, even going on food stamps at one point. As for what was in his mind, it was a light bulb.

“I’m just not hurting for ideas,” he said. “I’m addicted to creativity.” Jenny immediately got excited, thinking it could be Usher, who was in “Light It Up.” Nicole, though, is ready to abandon Robopine’s claim that he’s 60 years old, instead stumbling on the likely truth, Tyrese.

Chrissy thought maybe it was another singer/actor, Tank, but she’s wrong. Nobody mentioned Paul Walker, but his tragic death as part of the “F&F” franchise pretty much seals the deal that this is Tyrese, as Twitter has been saying for weeks and weeks now.

Piglet did a great job of caressing some real heart and emotion out of a Phil Collins classic, though he didn’t have quite as much power in his voice as we’d have liked from the performance. He has a lovely tone to it, but every time he sings, it just makes us feel like he’s used to being just one part of a larger vocal group.

Guesses: This week’s clues showed us the number one leaning on a chair, with 2 through 5 lying on the seat of the chair, which again makes us think of a boy band. He had a tray full of odds and ends, like plastic vampire teeth and a hairbrush and scissors.

He shared a secret reveal, saying that he discovered a huge apple-shaped birthmark on his head in his fraternity days when he and his brothers shaved their heads for a party. His package also showed four gold bars, which the panel immediately thought of gold records.

Well, the internet’s favorite guess, Nick Lachey, just happens to have four gold records from his days with 98 Degrees. They also have four platinum albums, but who’s counting. Cluedl-Doo interrupted his mindscan to tell us Piglet caught touchdowns from Dan Marino … but this is not a pro football player.

It turns out we need look no further than MTV’s Rock N Jock Super Bowl back in 2004 for the answer, where both Nicks, Lachey and Cannon, had the honor of playing alongside the NFL legend. Taylor Lautner was tossed around as a guess, but Nicole shut it down immediately.

She said she recognized that boy band cry right away, but she threw out Brian Littlrell of Backstreet Boys first, before saying that if it isn’t him, her second guess based entirely on the voice … Nick Lachey. Jenny was hearing the same thing, and we were hearing it, too and Twitter says, it’s about damned time!

Black Swan dug deeper into the archives for a very complex Stevie Wonder classic, which she wasn’t quite able to deliver with consistency. There were some genuinely great moments, as she juggled the changing dynamics of the piece, but it was definitely a singer’s song and performance -- which actually makes sense for most of this panel.

Guesses: She admitted that last week had her spiraling a bit and overwhelmed, showing how much passion she’s putting into this show. Clearly this opportunity to come out here and sing like this, in disguise, means a lot to her.

We saw a black umbrella over two small matching kitschy lamps that were looming over two plastic cups, but the cups disappeared later as she talked about how she used to put a hat out when she was younger to sing for the public.

Other images we saw included a drawing of a pony, a baby and an atom -- yes, we know what we just wrote! -- as well as a “Swan Kissed Soda” can. As for what’s on her mind, it’s pretty clearly Mariah Carey, which clearly cracked everyone up.

“This is awkward,” said Jenny as Nick looked at a pic of his ex. “That’s exactly what’s on my mind, as well,” NIck agreed about the mother of his children. “There’s a few others with her, but she in there.”

By way of explanation, Black Swan said that she’s a huge fan of Mariah’s, and surpassing one of her many records was one of the biggest thrills of her life. Nick tooted his own horn, saying that he once beat her in Connect Four.

That clue does fit the internet’s favorite guess for Black Swan, but you have to get into very specific records. In 2006, JoJo’s “Too LIttle Too Late” single jumped from 66 into the Top 3 in a single week, surpassing Mariah’s 2001 record with “Loverboy.” Both ultimately lost to Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You” in 2009, which jumped from 97 to the top of the chart.

Robin, though, thought of the huge chart success of Kesha, while Chrissy threw out Christina Milian, but Nick didn’t like her coming up, either, as this was all way too close to just running down Nick’s dating history.

Ken, though, wondered if maybe it was Mandy Moore, but Chrissy quickly shut that down by knowing too much about Mandy’s history for her to still fit the clues. Robin hilariously pointed out that if she drove through New Hampshire once, the show would use it.

Twitter already knows that JoJo grew up in New Hampshire, though, just as they “know” that Black Swan is JoJo. And with the way she belts notes and range, we’re not surprised she’s a huge fan of Mariah Carey.

Russian Dolls stripped it back to just two of them and gave us a beautiful take on “Shallow.” Unlike Robopine, they sang the chorus, but in such a short amount of time, we felt like we got too much chorus. We’d have loved some more verse to enjoy their incredible harmonies and vocals. These guys are world-class singers, and we have a feeling they’re not nearly appreciated enough for that.

Guesses: They definitely weren’t appreciated when younger, when their careers likely started, saying they got made fun of a lot for their appearance. If we’re leaning into Twitter’s favorite guess, certainly Hanson got a lot of grief for their matching long, blonde locks -- not Nelson levels of grief, but close.

As for imagery, we saw a 2015 dime stacked on a 1974 nickel. We also saw a very flashy-looking belt buckle and what looked a bit like a wok lying there. Their mind reading clue was a kangaroo, leading them to say, “Just like kangaroos with their joeys, you never know how many of us are going to pop out.”

Honestly, it seemed to play off their character in the game more than serving as a valuable clue, though it could be said that Hanson has probably had more success down under than anywhere else. Are we convinced it’s them, yet?

It could also be a hint to their “pop” career. If we’re not fully convinced, Jenny is now thinking maybe it’s Hanson, too, recalling a previous clue to tie it to Zac’s terrible motorcycle accident. Robin really stretched to get there, actually singing, “MMMwok” instead of “MMMbop.” So that’s where we’re at tonight.

As for Ken, he joked about the coins meaning it’s Nickelback, but he heard that early falsetto and thinks there could be a female voice in the mix, leading him to a terrible guess of Chad Kroeger singing with ex-wife Avril Lavigne. That’s even worse than “MMMwok!”

Chameleon took on this Busta Rhymes classic and it is not a joke. But he handled it like the clear rap pro he is. Not only did he easily sail through the dense rhyme patterns, but he never lost the sense of rhythm or storytelling. This is a true craftsman of the rap form. His physical performance was even more subdued this week, though still with plenty of swag, as it was all about those verbal acrobats.

Guesses: This week’s clues seemed a little light on content, as he opened up about moving around a lot while growing up as a military kid. We saw a plate of brownies for “$ale,” another plate of orange slices, a toy airplane and a captain’s hat. That was about it.

If we’re all on board with Twitter’s favorite guess that this is Wiz Khalifa, the brownies could be a hint to his hit “Weed Brownies,” while he’s got a “Co-Pilot” track with Prodigy and “This Plane.” Are the orange slices a reference to his mixtape, “Kush & Orange Juice”? Are these all music references? When you’ve got someone as prolific as Wiz, it might be too easy. Wiz has talked about being a “military brat” before, so that clue fits, too, though.

Chameleon’s “mind reader” was a pair of old-school sneakers, with him saying it took him a step in the right direction, “or maybe the left.” (yes, Wiz has a song called “Left”). Ken was out of his mind with a Young Thug guess, but Nicole was starting to feel that maybe it really was Snoop Dogg himself in the hizzouse. We love that her reasoning was planes fly high and “Snoop likes to stay elevated.”

Interestingly, Nicole actually got a few on Twitter thinking Snoop as well, but Wiz Khalifa remains the runaway favorite guess for this performer, and he’s definitely a better fit for the clues. That said, with Snoop’s library, we could probably make every clue everywhere fit some lyric of his.

This week, we’re not sure the performances were quite up to the talent of this lineup. Yeti went rap, which showed off some diversity, but paled in comparison to Chameleon later. Robopine underwhelmed with his choice to skip so much of the chorus, while we felt Piglet could have pushed himself vocally even more.

We have less criticism of Black Swan and Russian Dolls, she just took on something so complex it was hard to process it, while we were wanting more of the greatness we saw in the verses from Russian Dolls.

Taking into consideration previous performances leaves us with Robopine and Piglet, as we think Yeti really did bring a great performance overall, and something different. Robopine made a bad choice this week, but he’s a stronger singer than Piglet.

While the panel is obsessed with Piglet, we feel that we’ve maybe seen absolutely all he can give vocally, and it’s not quite as stellar as his compatriots. If it’s for this week only, we’d probably choose to say goodbye to Robopine, but for the season, we think Piglet has reached his peak.

After the panel and superfan votes, though, it looked like Robopine’s underwhelming week (skipping too much of the vocals must have hurt him) cost him his chance at the trophy. The panel and Nick, himself, were confused by this choice, so maybe his performance played stronger live.

• Robin Thicke: first impression (Ginuwine), final guess (Terrence Howard)
• Jenny McCarthy: first impression (Jamie Foxx), final guess (Jamie Foxx)
• Ken Jeong: first impression (Jamie Foxx), final guess (Wesley Snipes)
• Nicole Scherzinger: first impression (Jamie Foxx), final guess (Tyrese)
• Chrissy Metz: final guess (Tyrese)

At the same time, after such a specific theme park clue, there is almost no more doubt who Robopine is, which means it’s a pretty good time to go ahead and unmask him so we can keep what little uncertainty remains with the other five finalists (there’s not much left, really).

Our final guess was Tyrese, and of course that’s exactly who it was. LIke so many before him, Tyrese said it was the thought of being able to share this wholesome journey with his two young daughters at home as a family that convinced him to go for it.

“The Masked Singer” continues Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.