Transformers Night

After an amazing start to the season with all three groups and three amazing episodes with Group C, it was time to return to Group A for Transformers Night! When I first heard about this theme night, I had no idea what was going to happen. I thought that the contestants would perform songs about cars or robots, or songs by the band The Cars. I was also interested to see how the unmaskings would play out, as there were going to be five performances in the episode, one of which was a wildcard contestant they still had to introduce, and two reveals, so I was curious if they were going to do a cliffhanger ending and have the second unmasking at the beginning of the next episode. 

The episode started off with Nick coming to the stage by driving in the Optimus Prime truck, parking it outside the studio, and once he was on the stage, Optimus Prime himself walked out too, and even spoke as well, being voiced by his long-time voice actor Peter Cullen, which I found to be very cool. After that, we jumped into the first performance, which was The Starfish. In her clue package, she said that the show allowed her to unlock her inner pop star, and that growing up, while other kids played in the sandbox, she played with the jukebox, which introduced her to many artists. She then said that it inspired her to join a band, and that she has toured the nation. She also said that she has been lucky to dabble in many tide pools and that she is versatile. Visual clues included a fishbowl that said, “Teacher’s Lounge” on it and a sign that said “Live.” She then gave a great performance of “21 Guns” by Green Day, where she showed that while she does have a funny personality, she is also a great singer. After the performance, Optimus Prime gave an additional clue, where he said that Starfish has earned awards as part of a talented group. After this second performance from her, I am even more confident that Starfish is Kate Flannery. She was part of a band for a while, as she was a member of Mono Puff and performed under the name Lady Puff, and she toured with them. The fishbowl could be a reference to her starring in the movie “Fishbowl California,” the label saying, “Teacher’s Lounge” could be a reference to her cult comedy lounge act, the word “Live” could be a reference to all the shows she has done on stage and touring, and she won two SAG Awards with the cast of “The Office.”

The second performer of the night was The Ugly Sweater. In his clue package, he said that there is someone in his life that helped him tap into his inner Optimus Prime, and that’s his wife. When he first met her, they couldn’t have been more opposite, as his life was unraveling and hers was buttoned up, he was consignment and she was couture, and he was on the top of the charts, and she didn’t know who he was. He also said that she helped to build him back up. Visual clues included an airplane, a stop sign with a line through the word “stop,” and a flaming tire. He then gave an amazing performance of “Brick House” by The Commodores, which I feel is a song that is perfect for his voice and shows that he is a legendary singer. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee also joined the stage for the performance to dance along, which I thought was fun. After the performance, Bumblebee gave a clue, where he said that Ugly Sweater spends his time wisely, and he’s got the Lifetime Achievement Award. After this performance, I am still confident that The Ugly Sweater is Charlie Wilson. The story that he told about his wife makes sense, as he met her during his lowest point of drug addiction and she was his social worker, and he has said that he wouldn’t have made it this far without her. The airplane could be referring to him being featured on the song “Party Plane,” the stop sign with the line through the word “stop” is referring to his song “No Stoppin’ Us,” the flaming tire is for The Gap Band song “Burn Rubber on Me,” and he got a Lifetime Achievement Award at the BET Awards.

The third performer of the night was The Lovebird. In his clue package, he said that he loved that Transformers robots could hide in plain sight, and he knew exactly how that felt, as the world got to know him as somebody he wasn’t, but he was celebrated, so he ran with it. Eventually, he had to escape the cage that he was trapped in, and the truth is what set him free, and since then he has used his voice for good, helping people from court houses to white houses. Visual clues were a camera that said “24/7,” a checkered flag, and an MTV Award. He then gave a very good performance of “All That You Are” by Goo Goo Dolls, which I found impressive for someone who is not a professional singer. After the performance, Optimus Prime gave an additional clue, which was that Lovebird had made television history before, and was looking to do that again by winning the Golden Mask. The clues made me even more confident that Lovebird was Colton Underwood, and Jenny saying his name as her guess confirmed it for me. 

The fourth performer of the night was The Goldfish. In her clue package, she said that the most transformative moments of her life have been breakups. She also said that she always thought she would be married young like her mom, but dating in Hollywood is hard, and she wasn’t always lucky, and that it’s hard when you literally see your exes everywhere and even have your run-ins turn into TikToks. She then said that it forced her to reflect and learn what she actually needed. Visual clues included a Christmas snow globe with a white house, a police siren, and a vampire bat. She then gave an amazing performance of “Baby Come Back” by Player, where she showed off the beautiful vocal qualities her voice has, and her incredible vocalizing ability. After the performance, Bumblebee gave an additional clue, which was that Goldfish famously pours her heart and tears into her work. After the clues from this episode, I feel even more confident that The Goldfish is Vanessa Hudgens. Her mom got married when she was 25, and she thought that she would get married at that age as well. She has also had some high-profile relationships that did not work out with Zac Efron and Austin Butler, two celebrities that she would see everywhere. The Christmas snow globe and white house are referring to her starring in and co-producing the movie “The Knight Before Christmas,” which also starred actor Josh Whitehouse, the police siren is referring to her starring in “Bad Boys for Life” and the upcoming “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” and the vampire bat is referring to her role as a vampire in the movie “Freaks of Nature” and the fact that she is married to baseball player Cole Tucker.

The final performer of the night was the second wildcard contestant of the season, The Koala. In the trailer for the episode, it showed the panelists all guessing former NFL players, so that gave me an idea of the type of celebrity that was under the mask. I did research to find out every football player that has already been on a show like The Masked Singer, and to find out which ones have done some singing in the past and how tall they were as the costume was shown to be slightly taller than Nick. After doing some research with help from my dad, we ended up coming across one player named DeMarcus Ware, and after I heard a video of him singing the national anthem, I began to consider him as an early guess. In his clue package, it started off with a narrator saying that he’s cute but can also be extremely defensive. The Koala himself then said that he is kind of shy, as when he first started out, he wasn’t superstar material, he avoided interviews, and if he was put on the spot, he would forget his words. Once he broke out with his first hit, he was forced to speak up and everything changed, and now he can’t shut up. Visual clues included a Colorado sign, bull horns with a cowboy hat, a captain’s hat, Koala dancing on TV, and a championship belt with a sun on it. He then went on to give an amazing performance of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears, which sounded as good as the actual song, which is incredible considering he is not a professional singer. Koala also began the performance outside the studio, which I learned from behind-the-scenes footage actually happened during the episode, which I think is cool as it makes the performance even more impressive. After the performance, Optimus Prime gave an additional clue, which was that Koala is on a shortlist with some of the greatest of all time. After seeing a variety of different guesses on the internet that I knew were wrong, I saw one person on Instagram guess DeMarcus Ware, so I searched him on Google one last time, and after seeing that he played for both the Broncos and the Cowboys, I chose to go with him as my final guess.

Then, it was time for the first unmasking of the night, and the singer with the least amount of votes was revealed to be The Lovebird. While I thought he was great at singing, I was not surprised that he was the first person to be unmasked in this episode. After all the panelists had made their guesses, Lovebird took his mask off and was revealed to be Colton Underwood, showing that the internet was right once again. After he briefly explained why he did the show, they skipped over his encore performance, which explained to me how they were going to have enough time for two unmaskings in one episode. 

The second singer to be unmasked that night was The Koala, which I was surprised by, because I could tell how much the panel loved him following his performance. Although, I would have been surprised no matter who got unmasked, as they were all great. After the panelists made their guesses, I found out that my early guess was correct as The Koala was revealed to be DeMarcus Ware. I was amazed that I was able to come up with a correct answer days before just by listening to a voice and knowing they were a football player.

Overall, this was another amazing episode of Season 11, and I will see you all next week in the Group A Finals when I talk about Queen Night!