'The Masked Singer' reveals Griffin as star of beloved teen show
Yeehaw! The Masked Singer is going country for Grand Ole Opry Night, but it's sadly the last rodeo for two Group B contestants.
This week's episode kicked off with host Nick Cannon moseying on out to round up Boogie Woogie, Griffin, and Pearl for a boot-scootin' group performance of "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)," by Big & Rich, before each would return to take on a solo country hit.
Overseeing the night's performances were the usual panelists, Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, and Ken Jeong, but sitting in for Rita Ora was first-time Masked Singer guest, Happy Endings star, and Saturday Night Live alum Casey Wilson, who proved herself to be a worthy addition to the show.
Related: Breaking down The Masked Singer season 13's biggest clues and guesses
For the night's first solo, Pearl sang "Here You Come Again," by Dolly Parton, whom the glistening singer teased she had shared the stage with before. After some wild previous guesses, including Jeong thinking Pearl was Madonna, the panel had more reasonable (though obviously swayed by the night's theme) predictions for who could be under the mask. Jeong picked Sheryl Crow this time around, while Wilson thought it was Carrie Underwood, and McCarthy-Wahlberg couldn't decide between Trisha Yearwood and Kellie Pickler.
Next up was Griffin, who shared more details about the "really tough year" he'd experienced, saying he'd received news that "changed everything" but was able to face the challenge together with his family in their new home in the country. Fittingly, he sang "Take Me Home, Country Roads," by John Denver. The panel's guesses for Griffin included Kyle Chandler for Thicke, Josh Hartnett for Jeong, and James Van Der Beek for Wilson.
Lastly, Boogie Woogie took the stage to lovingly dedicate "Something in the Water," by Carrie Underwood, to his mother, who died a few years ago. After a final clue about the smooth-voiced crooner "hitting a home run" at the World Series, McCarthy-Wahlberg declared, "If this is an athlete, I'm gonna pull my wig off!" But the other panelists were convinced there was a professional musician under the Boogie Woogie mask, with Thicke guessing OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, Wilson going with Josh Groban, and Jeong emphatically proclaiming it must be his good friend Gavin DeGraw. If there is one thing we've learned from watching 13 seasons of this show, it's that when Jeong is convinced his close friend is on The Masked Singer, that celeb most definitely is not.
Related: Celeb revealed as The Masked Singer's Space Ranger thinks he'll be 'first and only' to do a Taylor Swift song
Pearl was voted the best of the night and will move on to the later Lucky Six round, while Boogie Woogie and Griffin went mask-to-mask in a Battle Royale to "I Had Some Help," by Post Malone ft. Morgan Wallen. The push-ups Boogie did to prepare seemed to pay off, as he won the round to advance in the competition, joining Pearl, Group A's Coral and Paparazzo, plus two upcoming Group C contestants in the final six.
Before it was time to unmask Griffin, we got the return of Lucky Duck. The rascally season 13 detective popped up in the audience to roast the panel for their bad guesses and give an additional clue: All three Group B finalists have a connection to season 6's Banana Split, who was revealed as Katherine McPhee. Before he waddled off, Lucky Duck also provided a hint about himself, saying, "Casey, good to see you again. Here's a clue about my famous identity: We were in a historic TV series together." The panel thought it could refer to SNL, while Wilson noted she'd also been on Drunk History.
On to the unmasking! Cannon provided a final clue for the eliminated contestant: a football, which Griffin called "a big part of my career." The panelists each thought this confirmed their previous guess, so Thicke stuck to Friday Night Lights star Chandler, Wilson with Varsity Blues star Van Der Beek, and Jeong to former high school football player Hartnett, while McCarthy-Wahlberg named Chad Michael Murray, who played a football star in A Cinderella Story.
Related: The Masked Singer season 13 reveals: See every unmasked celebrity contestant so far
Turned out Wilson was right in her very first guess on The Masked Singer, as Griffin was revealed to be Dawson's Creek star James Van Der Beek! He follows in the footsteps of the iconic teen show's "I Don't Want to Wait" theme song singer, Paula Cole, who was revealed as Ship last season.
Here's hoping Wilson brings her expertise back soon! Until then, next week will be the Group C premiere, introducing a new batch of contestants: Cherry Blossom, Mad Scientist Monster, Nessy, Stud Muffin, and Yorkie.
The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
10 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Review: ‘Girls & Boys' by Griffin Theatre is a devastating solo memory play
As I walked out of Griffin Theatre's extraordinary production of 'Girls & Boys,' in that dazed state that sets in after a show really messes with your head, two thoughts immediately ran through my mind. First: Cynthia Marker just gave a hell of a solo performance — one of the best I've seen in a long time. Second: how on earth am I going to convey the impact of this play without spoiling too much of the plot? I'll give the latter my best attempt. In this one-woman play, British writer Dennis Kelly (a Tony Award winner for the book of 'Matilda the Musical') manages a tricky balancing act, tackling an extremely dark subject in almost surgical detail while softening its harshest blows for the audience and maintaining some sense of hope in humanity. Oh, and the show is also hilarious. Griffin's Midwest premiere of this 2018 play is directed by Robin Witt, who excels at the helm of intimate dramas, as recently demonstrated by the moving two-handers 'A Case for the Existence of God' and 'A Slow Air' at Steep Theatre. Her knack for shaping exquisitely paced, quietly devastating emotional arcs works equally well in 'Girls & Boys.' With a skilled writer and a sensitive director in her corner, Marker holds the audience in rapt attention for 100 minutes straight in the role of the unnamed narrator, a quick-witted, irreverent Londoner from a working-class background. She launches her opening monologue with a bit worthy of a stand-up comedy set, recalling how she first met her future husband while waiting to board a JetBlue flight in Naples, Italy. As he sarcastically dashes the hopes of two gorgeous models trying to flirt their way ahead in the tense queue, this previously unremarkable man starts looking like a Greek god to our narrator. The attraction proves to be mutual, and Marker's character rhapsodizes about their passionate physicality and seemingly perfect compatibility in the early stages of their relationship. Suddenly, a sound cue and a shift from white to blue lighting indicate a leap in time, and this woman begins to relive a mundane interaction with her two young children, Leanne and Danny, while speaking to thin air and miming her motherly motions. Although we don't initially understand the purpose of this disorienting scene, in which the narrator no longer addresses the audience but instead seems wrapped up in her own memories, it does begin to make sense of the striking scenic design by Sotirios Livaditis. The set's ground level consists of a simple couch, throw rug, end tables and lamps in grays and off-whites — an ensemble that is mirrored by blue furniture suspended from the ceiling and strewn with children's toys and two stuffed animals. The overhead set pieces light up during the blue-tinged memory sequences, with lighting designer Brandon Wardell and sound designer Thomas Dixon working in tandem with Livaditis to toggle back and forth in time as the play inches toward revealing how the narrator's own life was turned upside down. When the action flips back to the brightly lit, right-side-up look, Marker's character recounts how her husband, a successful entrepreneur, cheered her on as she pursued a new career in documentary filmmaking. In another comedic moment, she tells the story of her first job interview in the industry, which pitted her against a horde of posh young people who could afford to pad their resumes with unpaid work experience. But with a combination of grit and humor, she gets her foot in the door and works her way up. A happy marriage, a fulfilling job and soon, a growing family — her adult life seems off to a promising start. Of course, that's not where the story ends. I won't reveal more here, but the script drops enough hints of the horrors to come that when the crisis finally arrives, the narrator acknowledges that the audience probably knows where it's going. Then, she gives the gentlest, most generous trigger warning imaginable. When the story gets difficult, she tells us, remember two things: this did not happen to you, and it is not happening now. But in this fictional world, the unspeakable did happen to her, and the narrator's reflections on violence, grief and memory are both poignant and profound. Marker never succumbs to a full breakdown in the telling, and her character has had years to process the trauma, but her pain is no less palpable for this restraint. It's a performance that will haunt me for some time, I suspect. Don't miss 'Girls & Boys' (4 stars) When: Through Aug. 16 Where: Griffin Theatre at the Bramble Arts Loft, 5545 N. Clark St. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes Tickets: $30-$43 at
USA Today
4 days ago
- USA Today
The Coldplay couple video memes are everywhere
It's, uh, been quite a few days for the alleged pair of people caught on camera at Wednesday night's Coldplay show in Foxborough. With rampant speculation over who's in the video of two people who ducked out of the way of the lens as Coldplay's Chris Martin wondered if they were having an "affair" or were just "shy," there have been fake statements shared and all kinds of focus on what exactly was happening in the clip that went mega viral. MORE COLDPLAY VIDEO FALLOUT: Mariners turned it into a Big Dumper meme And now? We've reached the memes portion of the proceedings. There's been a whole mess of jokes and memes being shared around the interwebs by people famous and otherwise. Here's a roundup:
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
WWE's Seth Rollins – 'I Will Be Out for an Extended Period of Time'
WWE Superstar Seth Rollins fills in for Rich as guest host where he reveals that he expects to be out of action for 'an extended period of time' after suffering a knee injury in his most recent bout.
