Lucky Duck revealed as Oscar winner in 'Masked Singer' shocker with major twist for finale
Lucky Duck showed up to throw a massive twist into the proceedings.
He then unmasked himself to reveal an award-winning filmmaker.Thirteen seasons in and The Masked Singer is still finding new ways to blow our minds.
This week's twisty semifinals started normal enough, with a group performance of Fitz and the Tantrums' "Handclap." It was all upheaval from there though.
First things first: Host Nick Cannon had to explain the format, which was unlike any other episodes this season, or past semifinals. As Cannon explained, to determine which three of the four remaining contestants would go on to the finale, the episode would feature a head-to-head format, where Boogie Woogie had to battle against Pearl, and Mad Scientist Monster was pit against Coral. The winner of each pairing would automatically go to the finals, with the bottom two facing off in a "brutal Smackdown for the ages."
First up was Pearl and Boogie Woogie. The latter brought his iconic energy early with "Maps" by Maroon 5. Ken Jeong guessed he was Ed Sheeran, Rita Ora picked Kevin Jonas, and Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg opted for Justin Guarini.
Then, Pearl brought out her sultry side to 'You Don't Own Me' by Lesley Gore. Guesses for her included Kacey Musgraves, Martina McBride, Ann Wilson, and Natalie Maines.
As promised, a vote then had to happen, much to the panel and audience's disappointment. They had the unenviable task of choosing between two great performances, but ultimately settled on sending Pearl through. But hey, at least this meant we got more time with Boogie Woogie later.
Coral and Mad Scientist Monster got their turn next. Coral crooned to 'What Was I Made For?' by Billie Eilish first. McCarthy-Wahlberg said it was her best performance all season. Guesses for her were still all over the place, with Ora comically settling for "someone from the Descendants," and the other judges going with Peyton List and Hailee Steinfeld.
Not to be outdone, Mad Scientist Monster stayed in his wheelhouse with a song perfectly suited to his talents with 'A Bar Song (Tipsy)' by Shaboozey. The panel thought maybe he was country crooners Trace Adkins, Billy Ray Cyrus, or Sam Hunt.
The panel opted to save Mad Scientist Monster, which set up an epic smackdown between Boogie Woogie and Coral. (And also gave the panel a chance to get in on the smackdown action with McCarthy-Wahlberg pretending to smack Jeong across the face.)
Coral went first with her take on 'Suddenly I See' by KT Tunstall, which was followed up immediately by Boogie Woogie's take on 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl' by Jet. Both performances really did justice to the original hit, and in the eloquent words of Ora, "He did that, and she did that!"
Before the biggest vote yet this season could commence, a bell started ringing and Lucky Duck emerged with the show's Ding Dong Keep It On bell. The panel seemed confused, and Cannon seemed amused, as Lucky Duck explained that both Coral and Boogie Woogie would be safe and heading to the finale.
As the panel screamed and the contestants breathed a sigh of relief, Lucky Duck sent them backstage and then presented yet another twist. Instead of one of the contestants, the quacky detective himself would be unmasking.
To that end, we finally got a Lucky Duck clue package, in which he told the panel, "As good as I am, this detective-ing thing is merely a hobby. I spend most of my time on massive movie sets — yes, even bigger than The Hangover. There's not an Oscar I don't know. Anyway, it's time to retire." Visual clues included a picture of Ora, vampire teeth, and a "superheroes only" sign.
Then in a hilarious montage, the show dropped the most fitting needle drop ever with Queen's "I Want to Break Free" as Lucky Duck danced his way to the stage, where he proceeded to keep dancing — fully choreographed number and all — because this is the Masked Singer, and the one thing you can count on is that whatever the most insane thing is that could happen, will happen.
Continuing his season-long bit of giving the panel flack (or should we say quack?), the duck decided the panelists could not be trusted to guess, so he naturally chose to unmask himself before they could do so, and the panel collectively lost their minds when it was revealed that Lucky Duck was in fact Oscar-winning Jojo Rabbit, Thor, and What We Do in the Shadows filmmaker (and Ora's husband), Taika Waititi. "That's so cool!" Ora gushed.
As a reminder, Entertainment Weekly actually guessed this before the season started, and got to ask Ora herself about it. At the time, she played it cool, saying, "I dunno. I mean, I wish [it was Waititi]. The thing is, I love this show. I literally feel like I know the producers enough now to kind of guess what they're up to, but genuinely they surprise me every single season, and I feel like obviously Jenny's husband [Donnie Wahlberg] was a part of a surprise a while back [as Cluedle-Doo], so I'm just going to have to keep you guys guessing."
And when asked what we could expect from the wacky new character, she teased, "Well, I think misbehaving, mischievous, popping in random moments, sort of ruining people's getting ready before their performance. It's just a naughty kid in class, which is very similar to Taika, though." Mystery solved!
Next week, per Cannon, fans can expect a "marathon two-hour finale" between Pearl, Boogie Woogie, Coral, and Mad Scientist Monster. Tune in for that Wednesday 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
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Adam Levine Recalls 'Getting Slung' Over a Bodyguard at a Los Angeles Club Because He 'Confronted' the Owner
Adam Levine revealed he once got kicked out of a club in Los Angeles because he accidentally confronted the owner At the time, he was defending a friend when the owner said something "really nasty" to them Levine is currently promoting Maroon 5's upcoming album Love Is LikeAdam Levine is recalling his early days partying on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. In an interview on Hot Ones that aired Thursday, July 3, Levine was asked if he had any cherished memories getting kicked out of rock clubs in his youth. "Wow, bro, you're blowing my mind. That's the coolest question anyone's ever asked," Levine, 46, began. "There was one time where I got kicked out of a place when someone said something really nasty to a friend of mine. It was really ugly what they said," he recalled. "I don't remember that much other than confronting the dude. It was this big guy too. He was too big for me. But I had had some drinks so I was feeling brave." The Maroon 5 frontman said he "got up in his face" and before he could "do or say much," the confrontation was over. "All of a sudden I felt my whole body getting slung over a shoulder of a larger man who was a security guard and I got thrown out of this club so fast. I was like, 'What just happened?' And the guy was like, 'Well, the person that you're confronting, he owns the club.'" Levine made an appearance on Hot Ones to promote Maroon 5's upcoming album Love Is Like, which is out Aug. 15. So far, the band has released singles "All Night" and "Priceless," which features LISA of BLACKPINK. Speaking with PEOPLE in May about the latter, he revealed that the song was written about his wife Behati Prinsloo. "It was the first song that I wrote for the album," Levine told PEOPLE. "It's just this really fun, Summery, chill vibe song that always felt really good," he continued. "The song kind of, you know, being about my wife, was the first song out the gates that felt good, felt positive, really positive, and fun. It's hard to explain, but it just instantly hit me." On working with LISA, the "Payphone" singer said she "elevated" the song "even more." "It kind of needed something extra, and she was like the perfect something extra at the perfect moment," he said. During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in April, Levine confirmed the band was set to release music in 2025. "I'm really excited about it. An album is coming over the summer. Non-specifically around the summertime. And then, even more non-specifically, there is a tour coming in the fall-ish," the "Moves Like Jagger" singer said. Love Is Like will follow 2021's Jordi, 2014's Red Pill Blues, 2012's Overexposed, 2010's Hands All Over, 2007's It Won't Be Soon Before Long and 2002's Songs About Jane. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Wedding season is costing me nearly £2,500. It's madness
Weddings are supposed to be about love. In fact, I'm fairly certain that's the whole point: meet someone you like, successfully convince them you're not a lunatic, commit to tolerating one another for life, and celebrate with everyone you know. That's how it works. Except, it isn't really. Because the modern wedding machine is not so much defined by love as it is by capitalism. Take the not-so-humble nuptials of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, who recently tied the knot in Venice, an amusement park for the cash-rich and morally bankrupt. Celebrities like Leonardo Dicaprio and Kim Kardashian were among the 200 guests at the three-day affair said to have cost somewhere around $50 million. Most people looked on with outrage at such ostentation. But my concerns were not so much with the poor taste of rich people. I was more intrigued by how much their guests would've had to pay to partake in this monstrous piece of performance art. Because big weddings mean big bills for all participating parties. And that's not counting the accompanying hen and stag dos, which can be even more costly. According to research from the Money and Pensions Service (Maps), wedding guests are spending more than £2,000 a year, on average, with the biggest costs being travel and accommodation, followed by outfits and gifts. For people my age (31), this is even higher given how many of our friends are getting married; the report found that those aged 25 to 34 spend around £740 each time on average, equating to up to nearly £4,500 a year. It sounds excessive because it is. I say this as someone who, this year, has spent the bulk of her summer holiday budget on other people's weddings and hen dos. The first wedding featured a group of university friends I hadn't seen in years; we all piled into a local Travelodge together with strip lighting and questionably damp sheets. Spirits were high but so were the bills: £90 for the hotel room and £40 in taxis, not to mention the £60 I spent on a blow-dry and £50 on renting a designer dress, feeling pressured to look good in front of people who'd last seen me aged 21. None of which was helped by humidity on the day which meant my hair started to frizz the second I arrived. Then there was the London hen do which cost me £300 – no, it didn't include an overnight stay and yes, that only included one meal. I didn't drink to save money. Another one of the weddings saw me getting stuck on a Sunday train service for two hours because of a delay, meaning I wound up paying £30 for a taxi home from the station because I didn't want to walk home from my local Tube station in the dark. And don't even get me started on all of the post-wedding hangovers that have forced me to write off the subsequent days, remaining bed-bound with Netflix and electrolytes when I should've been working. One of the weddings above was on my birthday, by the way; I held a small dinner the night before just to make sure I'd marked the occasion in some way before spending the weekend celebrating (and spending all of my money) on someone else. And it's not even over yet. I have another wedding in August. That one is in Suffolk; I haven't even started thinking about where I'll stay, how I'll get there, or what I'll wear. Though whatever choices I make, it will end up in the ballpark of at least £250, and possibly more if I decide to buy or rent a new dress given that I've already worn (and been photographed in) all of my existing ones at this year's weddings to date. Those prices are just rough estimates, by the way. They would be a lot higher were I to incorporate all of the last-minute purchases: emergency fake tan, new lipstick, blister plasters, electrolytes and hair serum etc. Not to mention the money spent on drinks beforehand (and occasionally during if it's a cash bar) as well as the obligatory post-wedding fry up. On top of the financial expenditure, though, is the energetic and logistical expense. Planning your journey to a wedding takes time: who will you travel with? How will you get from the station to the venue? Where will you stay and how close is it to the ceremony? Do you want to be closer to the church or the party? How reliable is that local cab company that's supposed to pick you up from somewhere you've never been at 1am? I know this makes me sound resentful. Or ungrateful, and like I secretly hate all my friends for getting married and having the audacity to invite me. And I want to clarify that isn't the case. I love my friends and all of these celebrations have been so much fun. I've danced the night away, drunk plenty of champagne, and had many silly late night chats with people I adore. But when the invites pile up, and the events happen in such quick succession of one another, it's impossible not to feel a little overwhelmed by it all: financially, emotionally, and even spiritually. It's a lot, especially when the traditional wedding format is so well established it starts to feel a little like you're spending a fortune to experience Groundhog Day. There are only so many times I can see a groom wink as he sniggers 'my wife' into a microphone without feeling like I've seen it all before. This summer is my first proper wedding season, so maybe I'm just still adjusting. Last year, I had just two weddings in September, and the years before had also been marked by just one or two. With those, I was very close to the couple and had a lot of friends there, which makes an enormous difference to how much fun can be had. This summer, a lot of the weddings I've gone to have featured just a handful of pals. At one where I knew just one person besides the bride, I actually tore myself away shortly after dinner so I could catch the last train back to London. I just couldn't face shelling out another £90 for a Premier Inn hotel room that would mean sleeping in overly starched sheets and eating powdered eggs for breakfast. And for what? To make small talk with strangers? Also, I'm single, which shouldn't make a difference to my experience at weddings but unfortunately it does. Not only does it make it more expensive given you don't have an automatic 50/50 split for accommodation and taxis but it exposes you to an array of questions about your love life and condescending (while admittedly well meaning) attempts to set you up. Again, after a while this becomes tedious. And I've had to calmly tell a few friends that being single doesn't mean I automatically want to hook up with someone at their wedding, nor does it guarantee I'll fancy the one single man in attendance. Don't get me wrong, wedding season has its perks. I love being able to catch up with people I haven't seen in years and celebrating the genuine love that my friends have found with their partners. But it wouldn't hurt my wallet and soul to spread things out a little more. So far, my 2026 is looking completely wedding free. Let's just say I'm not exactly unhappy about that. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Forbes
3 days ago
- Forbes
Blackpink Star Lisa Bests Her Own Radio Record
Lisa and Maroon 5's 'Priceless' climbs into the top 10 on Billboard's Adult Pop Airplay chart, while ... More also becoming her longest-charting hit with seven weeks. Lisa of BLACKPINK at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards held at UBS Arena on September 11, 2024 in in Elmont, New York. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty Images) Lisa teamed up with Maroon 5 earlier this year to help the pop band mount something of a comeback and launch its latest era. The group delivered "Priceless" to expectant fans, and both parties benefited from the collaboration. The Blackpink superstar scored a hit on multiple Billboard charts with the tune. The song didn't live long on the Hot 100 or other tallies, but it has remained a fixture on some pop radio rankings ever since it arrived. As it holds on once more, Lisa bests her own most impressive showing. "Priceless" Becomes Lisa's Longest-Charting Adult Pop Airplay Hit "Priceless" reaches seven weeks on the Adult Pop Airplay chart. The track now ranks as Lisa's longest-running success on Billboard's tally, one of the company's three pop radio rosters. Just last week, "Priceless" matched Lisa's solo cut "Moonlit Floor" in terms of longevity on the Adult Pop Airplay ranking. That latter tune debuted in January and peaked at No. 38, spending just six frames on the tally. She has also sent "Born Again," a collaboration with Doja Cat and Rae, to the same roster. That tune also peaked at No. 38 and only lived on the list for three stays. Lisa's Big Week on the Adult Pop Airplay Chart Lisa is having a big week on the Adult Pop Airplay ranking, as "Priceless" not only becomes her longest-charting tune, but also her first to break into the top 10. The Maroon 5 collaboration lifts from No. 11 to No. 10, making her one of only a handful of stars from the K-pop world to reach such a lofty space on this radio list. 'Priceless' Lives on Multiple Radio Tallies "Priceless" can be found on three other radio charts published by Billboard. This time around, the cut lifts one spot on both the Radio Songs and Adult Contemporary tallies, improving to Nos. 48 and 29, respectively. It simultaneously dips from No. 20 to No. 22 on the Pop Airplay ranking. Lisa's "Moonlit Floor" is still holding on the Adult Contemporary chart months into its lifetime. Her solo smash looks like it's about to depart, as it declines to No. 27 on the 30-spot roster, 14 weeks into its time on that list.
