This season of The Masked Singer has featured some questionable castings — instead of music superstars like Lil’ Wayne, Dionne Warwick, LeAnn Rimes, and Jewel, we’ve gotten celebrity pastry chef Duff Goldman and, um, Rudy Giuliani (the latter on the series’ lowest-rated episode ever). But this week, on Group C’s pre-finale double-elimination episode, the competition really ramped up with the reveal of two bona fide pop legends. The fact that neither accoladed artist made it to the finale proves that Season 7 is finally just getting started, with only two weeks to go.
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Team Bad’s trio Queen Cobra slithered as they slayed Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open,” while Team Cuddly’s Space Bunny really got the crowd New-Jack-Swinging with his Hi-NRG rendition of Heavy D’s remake of the O’Jays’ “Now That We’ve Found Love.” They then squared off against semifinalist the Prince on a rip-roaring showdown of Katy Perry’s “Roar,” which judge Ken Jeong excitedly described as “a legit three-way contest.” Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg raved, “I’m totally freaking out! You guys need to go on tour together or come out with an album! I did not want that to end!” And Nicole Scherzinger noted, “It’s so hard, because everyone has an amazing voice, but their own voice — really different tones and textures. So, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
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In the end, the judging panel and studio audience reluctantly decided to home the Queen Cobra, which girl group veteran Nicole correctly identified as multiplatinum ‘90s sensations En Vogue, and Space Bunny, who both Nicole and Robin Thicke correctly guessed was Grammy-winning reggae star Shaggy. (It was him!)
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As for the Group C-lister who managed to out-sing both superstars and will now be leaping into the Season 7 finale, the Prince, I feel confident that this artistic amphibian is theater sensation Cheyenne Jackson. The clues totally add up. We’ve seen the planet Mars, and Cheyenne appeared on the TV show Life on Mars. We saw the price tag $20.06 and an airplane, and Cheyenne had a career breakthrough in 2006 when he appeared in the Oscar-nominated movie United 93. We’ve seen a diamond ring, and Cheyenne played Johnny Diamond on American Housewife. We saw a wristwatch, and Cheyenne acted in three episodes of Watchmen. Another visual clue was Carnegie Hall, and Cheyenne has sold out that prestigious venue twice. The Prince also mentioned living in a “small pond,” and Cheyenne grew up in Oldtown, Idaho, which he has in the past described as a “teeny mill town.” And finally, the Prince once received a good-luck video message from his friend Jamie Lee Curtis, with whom Cheyenne just finished shooting the film Borderlands.
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The Prince will face some stiff competition in May 18th’s finals — Group A’s Firefly (who is undoubtedly Teyana Taylor) and Group B’s Ringmaster (aka The Goldbergs actress Hayley Orrantia) — but he definitely gave a finale-worthy performance this week of Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke,” which Nicole called “extraordinary.” Jenny even predicted, “He might be our winner.” Can he really hop into the winner’s circle? Possibly… but whatever happens, this toad, and viewers, are in for a wild ride.
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