Masked Singer Double Elimination Reveals All-Star Athlete, 2000s CW Star

There is no Ding-Dong-Keep-It-On Bell -- as that was already used to save Goo -- so there was no time to be thankful for the fact they'd made it all the way to the Group C Finals. It was do or die -- or at least, do or get unmasked in front of all of America.

As in the previous rounds, Season 12 has really been delivering with the talent. There are no terrible singers left, so Royal Knight, Sherlock Hound, and Strawberry Shortcake were really going to need to dig deep and pull out two winning performances.

As with the previous Group Finals, one mask was eliminated immediately after the first round of competition, with the remaining two tackling the same song in an epic Battle Royale to determine the final winner.

Who did enough to stand out, and which two famous faces were revealed? And did Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the gang inspire them to new heights, or leave somebody (or somebodies) saying, "Good grief!"

Let's jump right in with this week's mask. And don't worry, before we get to the shocking unmasking(s), 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 Rita Ora first. We do this because we love ... to torture you.

("You Make My Dreams Come True," Daryl Hall & John Oates) Robin coming in to show how a falsetto is done, actually sounding even more pure on those high notes than Rita in her natural register. All in all, though, they both sounded great and were clearly having fun kicking off the night. We're not sure the connection between the song and Thanksgiving (or Peanuts), but we'll let it pass because it left us smiling and feeling the love … and that's good enough!

("I Hope You Dance," Lee Ann Womack) Strawberry Shortcake sang this song to her mother, hoping to inspire her to take back up singing. The mission of her performance came through as the emotion was palpable, without completely overtaking her incredible vocal prowess and range. From delicate lines to belting chorus, Strawberry Shortcake gave one of the season's strongest performances … one that's going to be hard to beat!

Clues & Guesses: As hinted at above, her latest clue package was all about her connection with her mother, sharing that they used to sing at the tops of their lungs for the holidays while baking. Now, though, stage fright has stolen her mother's voice, and it's Strawberry Shortcake's hope that this journey will inspire her mother to sing again.

She also mentioned having had an opportunity to appear in a Thanksgiving parade, while we saw a pen with musical notes on it, a cow in a ballet costume, and a stagecoach with horse. Her on-stage clue was novelty mouse ears, to which she explained, "Mouse ears were instrumental in how I got my start." And of course, you can't say "mouse ears" without thinking about Disney.

Last week's package was all about her connections to Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus, including that they shared the same dreams, attacked them the same way, grew up in front of the world, and even shared a stage at one point. She said the duo even leaned on one another after hobnobbing with the same brothers, and breaking their hearts.

Visually, we got an apple, a "Banana Montana" clapperboard after she threw a script in the air from a director's chair, and a shooting star. Her on-stage clue was a pair of red boxing gloves, one with a blonde wig and the other a marijuana leaf. "Miley has always been in my corner. She was even by my side when I made my debut," Strawberry Shortcake explained.

Season 7's Ringmaster, Haley Orrantia, introduced her friend as Strawberry Shortcake's Masked Ambassador, calling her "a festival favorite." She shared they've been together through some of Haley's "biggest milestones," too.

Speaking for herself, Strawberry Shortcake said that she'd always dreamed of performing in a big music festival as a headliner, but had to settle for sitting on the sidelines. That is, until she got the call to open "one of the most iconic ones." She called that day both sweet and a "slow burn," but worth the wait.

Visual clues throughout included sunny sunglasses, a kitten, rainbows, hearts, Instagram pictures, mushrooms, and an ice cream cone. On stage, her t-shirt read "Break a Leg," to which she added, "My breakthrough role showed the world my potential."

Robin was laughing at his own dad pun-nery when he thought of the cow in a ballerina costume and tutu by guessing Kelsea Ballerini. Rita Ora considered that she's probably young, throwing out Hailee Steinfeld, while Ken offered up an even worse guess in in Selena Gomez.

The internet's favorite guess, though, also fits these clues extremely well. In fact, you can tie both the mouse ears and the cow to the Disney Channel original film Cow Belles, which was the debut for Aly & AJ Michalka.

Previous clues also fit, with the kitten suggesting both her Catra role on She-Ra and her role with sister Aly on Hellcats. Plus, AJ totally dated one of the JoBros (Joe, in fact), so that vibe also makes sense. Oh, and that Hannah Montana connection could be that she has said sister Aly was offered that role before Miley landed it, while she was offered the role of Lilly Truscott.

("Holiday," Madonna) Royal Knight didn't really challenge herself with this song, and the delivery was just so-so because of that. She sounded like someone who kills it at karaoke, but didn't really display any of the artistry we've seen in previous outings. This was not what she needed to do if she wants to emerge victorious in these finals.

Clues & Guesses: Her Thanksgiving clues focused on her three children, including her newest who will be enjoying his first. She talked about being judged and ridiculed her whole life amid all the struggles she's endured, but now she's finally living her happily ever after with her kids.

Visual images included a wine bottle with a mic (podcast?), a boomerang, and an "It's a Boy" baby onesie. Her on-stage clue was a "Best Selling Author" book. "I act, I sing, I live my life to the fullest, and I even wrote a bestselling book all about it," said Royal Knight.

The latest clue package was all about Royal Knight struggling through the darkness of bad relationships -- and blaming herself along the way -- until her own knight in shining armor helped bring her out of that darkness. She never gave up on love and now has found her north star, who ironically (considering the costume) calls her his "warrior."

Visual clues included a slashed purple banner of a flaming heart, a fall bouquet, sunset beach, gumball machine, and a set of red scrubs. Her on-stage clue was a highway sign for Nashville, which she explained, "Well, just like 'Party in the USA,' Miley and I would both prefer a Nashville party."

In her first week, Royal Knight was tied to Season 11's Afghan Hound, Savannah Chrisley, as her Masked Ambassador. Savannah called her the "toughest woman I know" and "one of the fiercest friends that I have."

Royal Knight then opened up about her her dreams of a fairy tale life turned instead into "heartbreak and terror" around every corner. She said she had to learn to put layers of armor on to protect herself, and she also had to break free of "you and I" and learn to be okay with just "me."

She said that she's now over "castles or kings," so long as she's giving "main character energy." Visual clues in the package included a red dragon (to "sleigh), butterflies, a glass slipper, storybooks, green trees, a TV remote, and a gold megaphone emblazoned with "The T."

On stage, her t-shirt read "Ready to Sleigh." Royal Knight explained, "No matter the season, I’m always ready to ‘sleigh’ the competition."

Rita considered the podcast-looking mic and the book and the happily ever after to guess the recently-remarried Anna Faris. Robin read the clues to Busy Philipps, but it was Jenny McCarthy who suddenly found herself thinking about the internet's favorite guess, Jana Kramer.

The One Tree Hill alum has been a popular guess online, and certainly can claim the title of multi-hyphenate with seven charted singles on the Hot Country Songs charts. She gave birth to her third child in November 2023, making him just about the right age to be enjoying his first Thanksgiving tastes.

Fitting in with talk of a tumultuous life journey, Jana's certainly been through a lot on the romance side, with situations involving domestic abuse and infidelity across three previous marriages, before finding her current husband, Allan Russell. Oh and she unpacked all of this with Savannah Chrisley on the latter's podcast and her bestselling book The Next Chapter.

("Ho Hey," The Lumineers) Sherlock Hound sounded so cool and confident on this track and we appreciated how he mixed up the traditional melody a bit to add some personal touches and make it more his own. He has such a rich tone to his voice, it goes down the ear canals so smoothly. This wasn't a groundbreaking or powerful performance, but a very strong one nonetheless. Enough to win the night? Not by itself, we'd wager!

Clues & Guesses: For Peanuts Night, Sherlock Hound talked about a life of new beginnings, of which he's had a few both professional and personally. He talked about his first career having a built-in expiration date, which certainly fits most professional athletes. He held up an "On Strike!" sign during this declaration, which could be a baseball hint, or even refer to the basketball strike of 1994-95 that canceled the World Series.

He went on to talk about how he learned new tricks, showing an Ace of Diamonds card with a globe on it, and how he never really had a home until he found his new "gal," as home is now wherever she is. Other visual clues included oven mitts and red pearls.

Yet again, Sherlock Hound was giving all the baseball star clues, with talk of breaking a century-long clue this week in his new package. He tied to to his wilder and younger days when he was known for being "free-spirited and fun." In fact, of that curse, he says he "single-handedly" broke it, before reinventing himself later. Athlete turned musician?

On the visual side, we got a glass of sweet tea with an enormous, overflowing container of sugar cubes next to it, paw prints going up red slide, and a bull. We then got a Miley Cyrus clue in the form of a long, blonde wig. "Hannah Montana's not the only one with gorgeous long hair," he explained.

Another reason we suspect a superstar athlete is because Rhino (AKA Barry Zito) is Sherlock Hound's Masked Ambassador, which is a pretty big hint things might go that way. There were also lots of baseball hints throughout.

Barry said they'd shared "some of the best jam sessions ever," while Sherlock Hound shared that he was surrounded by music growing up, suggesting he learned cello, but would have rather been outside playing. His grandmother taught music while his father played piano.

He said it was rock music that "unleashed a passion" he then pursued. Throughout, visual clues included a red guitar, an eye patch, and a diamond record, while on stage we saw "#1 Hit" on his festival t-shirt. "I know what it’s like to be number one in the world," he suggested, which could refer to a sports championship as much as any musical achievement.

Robin considered a rock-and-roll star, but couldn't resist the pull of all these sports and baseball hints. Other than the voice, there's really nothing tying him to that classic rocker vibe, but there are plenty of things tying him to America's Pastime, baseball. Even Ken was feeling it!

Rita admitted knowing nothing about baseball, which could be why she ignored all those clues to guess Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis. Jenny, too, stayed in the rocker lane with Creed's Scott Stapp. But Robin and Ken were definitely on the right track.

Sherlock Hound practically gave it away last week when he told Jenny her husband, Donnie Wahlberg, loves him, as the Boston native of course loves his Red Sox and their iconic superstars.

Stars like Bronson Arroyo, who helped them break the Curse of the Bambino by beating the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series. He then went on to even greater success with the Cincinatti Reds, including his first All-Star Game and Gold Glove.

A baseball career has an obvious expiration date, which is why in 2005, Bronson released his debut album, Covering the Bases. He's been the internet's favorite guess since his first appearance, and we're feeling it more and more with each passing clue!

With Strawberry Shortcake absolutely making it to the Battle Royale, we found ourselves looking at Royal Knight and Sherlock Hound for this first elimination. Ultimately, Sherlock Hound has been giving us more throughout the past few weeks, and even injected some of his own artistic vision into tonight's performance.

Royal Knight didn't do that, so she was our pick to go first … because we suspected he'd be right behind her. The audience agreed with at least the first half of our prediction, sending Royal Knight to the first unmasking of the night.

• Robin Thicke: Busy Philipps
• Jenny McCarthy: Jana Kramer
• Ken Jeong: Kelly Ripa
• Rita Ora: Anna Faris

Ken's guess came out of left field, and definitely doesn't fit with the clue about having a new baby celebrating their first Thanksgiving this year. Nevertheless, we can appreciate that he put some extra thought in it and tried a new guess … even if it was just as terrible as his previous efforts.

Jenny was in line with what we've been thinking, as so many of the clues match and Jenny is very in tune with that pop culture world. So it was no real surprise when it was indeed Jana Kramer under that mask, culminating a tough period in her life with the joy of taking part in a show built on positivity, and joy.

("Shivers," Ed Sheeran) Sherlock Hound brought a little growl and a lot of soul to his take, getting the audience revved up right away. He definitely felt at ease on the track and in the range, offering little variance to how it was originally recorded. But that silky voice is just so smooth and comfortable, we found ourselves nodding along.

Strawberry Shortcake was in a different realm from what she's performed for with a male singer-songwriter vibe, but it didn't even slow her down. She twisted the song up, making it her own from the first note. She took advantage of a greater range to really punch some of the lyrics and showed great variance and range. Where was that in her first performance?

The difference is a talented craftsman and an artist. Strawberry Shortcake is working on another level to Sherlock Hound. This may be his first pivot after another career (probably in baseball), but this is clearly where her heart and passion lies, and has lived most of her life.

It wasn't even close in our eyes -- so no Ding-Dong-Keep-It-On Bell regrets, as it's not available anymore. There is only one right answer after tonight and that is to celebrate a Strawberry Shortcake victory. The panel reached the same conclusion, sending Sherlock Hound home.

• Robin Thicke: Bronson Arroyo
• Jenny McCarthy: Scott Stapp
• Ken Jeong: Bronson Arroyo
• Rita Ora: Hozier

Baseball fans who pay any attention to what their favorite athletes do after they retire from the diamond were already hearing his distinctive voice, but props to Robin and Ken for also getting it right as Bronson Arroyo was revealed.

If the Cincinatti Reds Hall of Famer's goal was to come out and prove to modern audiences that this chapter of his life was every bit as meaningful and powerful as his first chapter, then he did a pretty good job. His tone would sit very, very well on modern country music radio stations, or even in that singer-songwriter vibe.

The Masked Singer heads into the Quarterfinals and moves back to its regular night next Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.