The new season features Rita Ora joining Robin Thicke, Ken Jeong and Jenny McCarthy as the panelists to replace Nicole Scherzinger, who had been with the show for the past 10 seasons.
- Mar 7, 2024
AceShowbiz - "The Masked Singer" returned for season 11 on Wednesday, March 6. The new season featured a new judge with Rita Ora joining Robin Thicke, Ken Jeong and Jenny McCarthy as the panelists to replace Nicole Scherzinger, who had been with the show for the past 10 seasons.
Kicking off the highly-anticipated premiere was The Goldfish, who amazed everyone with her take on Olivia Rodrigo's "Vampire". "What a way to open up season 11, right? And let me just tell you, that performance gets you all the way to the finals," Jenny gushed. Rita agreed, saying, "You know, I'm gonna second Jenny. The drama, the power, the presence -- it was perfect. Well done!"
Her clue read, "Let the record show that gold is my lucky color." For the guesses, Rita thought she could be Lea Michele, while Jenny named Selena Gomez. Carly Rae Jepsen's name was also thrown into the mix.
Later, The Starfish hit the stage to offer a fun performance of Madonna's "Material Girl". Rita said, "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm in love with a starfish." Robin added, "Easily one of the most lovable costumes ever, characters ever. And the way you embodied it, the way you embraced it, great performance!"
Her visual clues included photographs of the celebrities name-dropped, a sign that said, "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Starfish" featuring a four-leaf clover on it, "PA's" sunscreen and a doll with lemons on it. He also claimed that she's "been streamed over 50 billion minutes" in her additional clue. Rita guessed Catherine O'Hara. Robin named Cheri Oteri, while Jenny went with Molly Shannon.
Up next was The Ugly Sweater, who opted to sing "The Best" by Tina Turner. "That is a rockstar! That is iconic!" Rita complimented. Jenny was also impressed, saying, "I think we've got an icon, a legend on our hands, you guys."
In his clue package, The Ugly Sweater said, "When I hit the scene as a young, handsome ugly sweater I was the epitome of style, on top of the world. But I lost focus and my whole world unraveled." The additional clue, meanwhile, came in the form of another ugly sweater that said "Featuring." Among the guesses for The Ugly Sweater was Charlie Wilson, Nile Rodgers and Verdine White.
The next singer was The Lovebird, whose clue package revealed, "It is so fitting that I'm the Lovebird. What can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic! Every decision I've made in my life has been because of love. Either hoping to find it or the fear of losing it." As for visual clues, it included a wedding cake with only a groom standing on it, a watch with a #1 on it, a trophy that said "Most Lovable," gold shoes and dice rolled to 3 and 2.
The Lovebird chose to belt out "Home" by Phillip Phillips. "Really beautiful tone. Great song choice for your voice. And I love the way you used the whole stage," Robin said. "You were hopping around. You really tried to lift the energy up. Great job!" The panelists guessed Travis Kelce, Odell Beckham Jr. and Nick Viall.
Concluding the premiere night was The Book. "I have stories for days and a vocabulary that's really, what's the word? Good! And I owe it all to my mom. See, my brother was a troublemaker, so my mom had to lay down the law on me. So I was good at everything, from school to sports, but when it came to performing I was abhorrent," he shared in his clue package.
That night, The Book hit the stage to offer a lackluster performance of "So Sick" by Ne-Yo. It's clear that The Book isn't a professional singer and Rita said, "I know who this is, 100 percent." Robin added, "There's only a few people in the world that as soon as they walk in the room I start smiling and laughing like this, and that's Kevin Hart."
The Book surprisingly took his mask off without the audience even voting at all and the celebrity behind the costume was indeed Kevin Hart! "That was the worst performance ever on the history of this show," host Nick Cannon told his frenemy, "You embarrassed yourself! That was stupid." Despite that, the audience was cheering for the comedian for the pleasant surprise.
