Season 6 Review

If you were to ask me what I think is the best season of The Masked Singer, I would have to say Season 6. My reasoning as to why is because the showrunners filled the season with so many amazing singers and gave them all amazing songs to sing. In this post, I will be discussing all sixteen contestants, the performances that they gave during their time on the show, and other aspects about their time on the show that helped contribute to making this the best season.

The first contestant to be unmasked was The Octopus, who was revealed to be basketball player Dwight Howard. Since he is 6’10”, this made the costume the tallest one in the show at that time. He was also another example of a celebrity that is not a singer that is very good at it, as he gave a great rendition of “Tutti Frutti” by Little Richard. What also made his unmasking memorable was that it was the first time that Ken guessed the correct identity of the first celebrity unmasked. 

The second contestant to be unmasked was Mother Nature, who was revealed to be actress Vivica A. Fox. She gave an entertaining performance of “I’m Coming Out” by Diana Ross, which also featured a set piece that six people working on the show that were dressed as animals randomly popped out of, and she also hit them with a giant inflatable hammer like in the game “Whack-A-Mole.” Even though the episode aired three years ago, I remember my first impression guess for who I thought it was. I thought that it was actress and host Aisha Tyler, because one of the clues was a picture of Wayne Brady, in reference to her role as the host of “Whose Line is it Anyway,” and I thought the costume was reference to her role as Mother Nature in “The Santa Clause” movies. It wasn’t until I went on the internet and saw that everyone was saying Vivica A. Fox that I decided to agree that it was her. 

Before the third contestant was unmasked, I had heard from the podcast the show used to do and from trailers for the episode that the unmasking was going to be one of the biggest upsets in the show’s history. When it finally happened, they were right because the third contestant unmasked was Toni Braxton. It was initially shocking because it made no sense that a singer as iconic as her would go home after the second episode. She gave two great performances during her time on the show, which were “Say So” by Doja Cat and “Levitating” by Dua Lipa. After her first performance, some people were unsure that it was her, as they didn’t think it sounded like her, but after seeing enough people say that it was her, I decided to agree with them. When she was unmasked, the reason why it happened so early and why so many people didn’t think it sounded like her made sense because when she took off her mask, it was revealed that she had another mask covering her face because she has lupus. I am impressed that she was even able to do the show with her health condition.

The fourth contestant to be unmasked was The Dalmatian, who was revealed to be Tyga. He only had one performance during his time on the show, which was an impressive performance of “Beautiful” by Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams. He was also another celebrity that the panelists failed to guess correctly, even though he has worked with one of them before, as Robin was quickly called out for guessing incorrectly. What I also find notable about Tyga being a contestant on the show is that he is the last rapper the show has had in a long time. While they have had a few other rap performances since and they had Grandmaster Flash, a hip hop DJ as a contestant, the show has not had any rappers in years, which I find to be surprising, as it is a prominent genre of music, and there are still many great rappers the show can get.

The fifth contestant to be unmasked was The Baby, who was revealed to be Larry the Cable Guy. At this point in the show, this costume was the largest one they ever had, and it was also the craziest looking costume that the show has had. The first clue package for him was one of the most interesting ones of the series, as he spoke with a cockney accent throughout it, talked about being part of a “Baby Rat Pack,” said that he has blockbuster hits, award winning albums, radio play, and replaced Arnold Schwarzenegger in a film. I found it interesting that there is a celebrity who has done all these things in his career, and it’s even more interesting that this applies to Larry the Cable Guy. For his first performance, he gave a surprisingly good performance of “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything” by Barry White, which he started off by speaking in a voice that sounded like Cartman from “South Park,” before transitioning into a deeper tone once he started singing. For his second performance, he gave one of the most bizarre performances of the entire show, as he sang the theme song to “The Flintstones,” which he started off by singing in a dramatic operatic tone, before transitioning into the more upbeat version of the song that everybody knows. His unmasking provided us with another moment of a panelist failing to correctly guess somebody that they have worked with before, in this case it was Jenny, who had previously starred in a movie with him. 

The next contestant to be unmasked was The Cupcake, who was revealed to be Ruth Pointer. When I first heard her perform, I couldn’t tell if she was male or female because of how deep her voice was, and the internet wasn’t much help at first, as they had no idea who it was, as some people thought it was RuPaul, even though she is shorter than him, and other guesses were all over the place, one that I remember seeing was Clay Aiken. It wasn’t long before some people started guessing Ruth Pointer, and while some people were unsure, that was the guess that made the most sense to me. She also gave two amazing performances during her time on the show, as she performed “Heatwave” by Martha and the Vandellas and “Finesse” by Bruno Mars. Around the time that this episode originally aired, I remember my mom was not the biggest fan of her performance of “Finesse,” and said that it would have been better if she sang “Burning Love” by Elvis Presley, and I agree with her, because her voice has the right amount of power for that song.

The next contestant that was unmasked was The Hamster, who was revealed to be Rob Schneider. He is yet another celebrity that is not known for being a singer that is very good at it. He gave three great performances, which were “Oh, Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison, during which he sounded a lot like Roy Orbison, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen, which he sang while doing an impression of Elvis, and “Sabor a Mi,” which is a song that is entirely in Spanish, and I am impressed at how great his pronunciation of each word was. 

The next contestant that was unmasked was The Beach Ball, who was revealed to be Honey Boo Boo and Mama June. In a season full of many high points, they were unfortunately the worst performers of the season, and their performance of “Party in the U.S.A.” by Miley Cyrus is the one performance from the season that I have not listened to after the season ended.

The next contestant that was unmasked was The Jester, who in one of the most impressive bookings the show has ever had, was revealed to be Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols. From the moment that he walked out on stage, I could tell that he was going to be a unique contestant, as rather than walk in from the stage, there was a short pause before “We No Speak Americano” started playing, and rather than walking in from the stage, he walked in from the audience while making all sorts of gestures to the people he was standing in front of. For his first performance, he gave a great rendition of “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper, which I find cool because he auditioned for the Sex Pistols by miming along to a jukebox playing another Alice Cooper song, “I’m Eighteen.” His second performance was in my opinion, the weirdest one in the entire series, as he sang “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” by the Soggy Bottom Boys in a goofy sounding country accent. When he was unmasked, you could tell how amazed the panelists were that he was on the show, as guest panelist will.i.am couldn’t hide how excited he was that Johnny Rotten was on the stage. He also shared the sweet reason why he did the show, which was for his wife who was battling Alzheimer’s. 

The next contestant to be unmasked was The Pepper, who was revealed to be Natasha Bedingfield. One thing that stands out about her time on the show is the fact that she got asked to be a contestant with 24 hours’ notice and was one of the best contestants on the show in my opinion. She did a great job showing off the power of her voice in all three of her performances, as her performance of “Jealous” by Labrinth was one of the most beautiful this season, her performance of “No Tears Left to Cry” by Ariana Grande gave her a chance to show off her belting ability, and her performance of “Sign of the Times” was another incredible performance that she finished off with more belting.

The next contestant to be unmasked was The Mallard, who in one of the most obvious instances of the costume being a clue, was revealed to be Willie Robertson from “Duck Dynasty.” I find it funny that even though the costume was such a massive clue to his identity, none of the panelists ever said his name. He also has a very good singing voice, as he did a great job with the country songs “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” by Big & Rich and “Play Something Country” by Brooks & Dunn, did a good job with the rap song “My House” by Flo Rida, and did a good job with the alternative rock song “Fly” by Sugar Ray.

The next contestant to be unmasked was The Caterpillar. In the episodes leading up to it, one of the people who worked on the show said that The Caterpillar was his favorite contestant of the season because he was shockingly talented, and his singing ability came out of left field. When he finally had his first performance, I realized that he meant it because the internet had no idea who it was. After a few hours, I saw a guess that made sense with the clues and was somebody not known as a singer, and it was the guess I decided to go with that was correct, which was Bobby Berk from the reboot of “Queer Eye.” His first performance was an amazing and powerful rendition of “If I Were a Boy” by Beyonce, and then he followed that up with two songs that are two different genres, which were “It’s Gonna Be Me” by NSYNC and “Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks. I’m amazed by the range that he has in his performing abilities for someone that is not a professional singer.

The next contestant to be unmasked was The Skunk, who was revealed to be Faith Evans. She had many amazing performances during her time on the show where she showed off the power she has in her voice, such as “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World” by James Brown where she showed off how much she can belt, her performance of “Midnight Train to Georgia” where she sounded like Gladys Knight, her moving performance of “At Last” by Etta James, and her incredible belting performance of “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” by Aretha Franklin. 

The next contestant to be unmasked was The Banana Split, a duo costume that was revealed to be David Foster and Katharine McPhee. Even though she was the only person in the duo to do any singing, she was still one of the best contestants of the season. She started off with a moving and beautiful performance of “A Million Dreams” by Pink, then went on to a powerful performance of “Cry Me a River” by Michael Buble, then she did two upbeat performances of “Let ‘er Rip” by The Chicks and “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga. Her last performance was “Singin’ in the Rain” by Arthur Freed, which was good, but not the type of song that would get her in the finale like she hoped it would.

The runner up for the season was The Bull, who was revealed to be Todrick Hall. He is one of the best contestants the show has had, as he could do both energetic performances and powerful ballad performances, could pull off amazing dance moves while wearing a costume including the splits and a trust fall, and as my dad said, he was one of the contestants who truly embodied the costume that they were wearing. For his powerful ballad performances, my favorites were “What Hurts the Most” by Rascal Flatts because of his operatic vocalizing at the beginning, “Make You Feel My Love” by Bob Dylan because of his falsetto that he had throughout the performance, and “Invisible” by Hunter Hayes for how emotional it was.

The winner for the season was The Queen of Hearts, who was revealed to be Jewel. In my opinion, she is one of the best winners that the show has had, as not only did she give amazing performances with every episode that she was on, but it also felt like she took us on a journey throughout the season, starting off as vulnerable before becoming more confident with every performance. She had one of the best first performances of any contestant with an upbeat performance of “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga. She also gave many other amazing performances, such as “La Vie en Rose” by Edith Piaf, which she sang despite not being French or knowing any French, “River” by Bishop Briggs where she showed how much power her voice has, and her final performance of “Firework” by Katy Perry, which felt like a culmination of her journey on the show. 

Overall, these are all the reasons why I feel that Season 6 is the best season of the show. I hope you all enjoyed reading this blog post, and I’ll see you all soon with another one!