The Masked Singer Recap Season 3, Episode 13: Country Superstar Unmasked

Gordon Ramsay brought his unique flavor to the most competitive hour of “The Masked Singer” yet as the Top 6 really set that stage on fire.

There was not a single weak performance among them, meaning it was down to the smaller things that made the difference as to who survived into next week’s quarterfinals and which celeb got unmasked.

Remarkably, there are still a few performers left in this competition that have not only stumped the panelists all these months, but have left the internet scrambling and scratching their heads. We’re a long way from Season 1 when Twitter knew absolutely everyone after the first episode aired.

Celebs like Kitty and Rhino are still keeping everyone guessing, and with the way they’re performing that guessing might go on for a while. In fact, absolutely everyone stepped up their game this week, including the de facto front-runner who faltered last time, Night Angel.

Could she become the first female “Masked Singer”? Kitty might give her a run for her money, but the ladies are outnumbered by Rhino, Turtle, Frog and Astronaut. Their first order of business was just to outlast all the fellas this week!

From a masked moonwalk to Nick Cannon bugging out, this was an hour for the ages. After this week’s shocking elimination, we’re just going to have to resign ourselves to being outraged eery week from here to the end as one great performer goes after the other.

As always, the weakest performer got the boot, but we’re still going to make you power through the terrible (and occasionally good) guesses made by our illustrious panel of Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong and Nicole Scherzinger first. We do this because we love … to torture you.

Kitty brought a soaring vocal to a Marilyn Monroe standard as she yet again transformed herself vocally, keeping us all guessing. She has such a powerful voice with so many different layers and textures to it, we’re going more and more convinced she has to be a singer … right?

Guesses: This week she even told us she was channeling soloists she’s performed with before (so was she part of a duo or group?). She also showed lots of strange images like a silver apple, a cymbals-money music box, “Mind Your Manners” and “Small Sisters” on a record and suggested she’s performed on many stages in many roles. Broadway?

The season’s most mysterious contestant keeps everyone guessing, bringing out a layered cake that Chef Ramsay said looked like a decadent style on a shiny silver dish. He followed those clues to Charlotte Church, which really left the panel stunned.

Ken took the clue about performing with soloists and stages to “Glee” star Lea Michele, which isn’t a terrible guess, either … surprisingly. Jenny took opera and soap dish and the silver apple to Eva Longoria’s “Desperate Housewives.”

Twitter is getting so frustrated that they can’t pinpoint who Kitty is to the point they’ve almost stopped guessing. There are most posts venting their frustration than throwing out names like Emmy Rossum and Sarah Hyland. Elizabeth Gillies is starting to pick up some heat online, too.

Rhino knows exactly what he’s doing on that stage and with that crowd. This is a bona fide country music superstar, or he’s doing one hell of a good impression. The subtle twang, the richness, the storytelling, the heart and emotional connection (even through a Rhino) costume, it was just masterfully done.

Guesses: He dropped some fresh clues this week, like the fact he has a wife and kids and enjoys seeking serenity in nature and even, perhaps, with some yoga. He showed some colorful guitar picks as well, just adding to the professional musician pedigree.

His food clue was spaghetti and meatballs with a covering of cheese. “Is my name on the tip of your tongue?” he asked and it absolutely was not. Gordon Ramsay thinks maybe it could be Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley because of barstools.

Robin liked it, too, but Jenny can’t get over the Missouri with a crown and ignored his prior claims that he’s not an athlete to slide back to Barry Zito as her guess.

Twitter, meanwhile, is keeping their focus on the country music genre, and while they’re not collectively ready to commit to anyone, Sam Hunt remains the dominant favorite, though Andy Grammer is picking up more guesses. Mostly, though, they’re just totally digging his vibe.

Frog knows how to put on a show, teasing fans with a moonwalk, rapid-fire rapping and even a little rhythmic singing as he transformed Imagine Dragons into a hip-hop track. It felt fresh and current and very cool, which is a huge step forward considering he has brought an old-school vibe to many performances thus far.

Guesses: Gordon Ramsay connected his “Masked Munchies” catfish dish to the chocolates to “Ms. Chocolate” to Lil Jon, so of course Nick had to say, “What?! Okay, yeah!!”

Robin Thicke took the backwards 23 on a basketball jersey and finally got on board with what the internet has been saying since day one. He circled back to lots of other clues pointing to Bow Wow and they may finally have it.

Nicole ignored all of that, though, to stand strong on Omarion but come on, this is Bow Wow. We may not be certain on several of these finalists, but we’re pretty sure on this one, right? Twitter is pretty sure. In fact, they’re mad at any of y’all who still aren’t sure, that’s how sure they are!

Night Angel was actually a little shaky on the start of this, but totally redeemed her subpar performance by the end of it. She has such a full-throated vocal delivery, she’s clearly had lots of experience singing to the back of the room and really belting. That said, we do have to say that this former front-runner isn’t looking quite as unstoppable of late.

Guesses: Jenny was a little too enthusiastic about that performance — it was not the best ever … not even close! Her “Masked Muchies” looks like crickets or bugs on a stick and w-w-what? No thank you!

When Gordon suggested that some cultures dipped bugs in chili, Ken jumped on the idea that this is Chili from TLC (he had a few other clues to back it up). Jeny thinks the four grandmas, and sweet tea to the internet’s favorite guess, Kandi Burruss.

Nicole thought Kandi was filming at the moment, so she took “Free Your Mind” to En Vogue and Dawn Robinson. Other new clues this week included a lighter and fish hooks. As for the internet, they’re still convinced this is Kandi Burruss.

They’re also convinced Jenny was way off in her declaration that this performance was like the best “Masked Singer” performance ever. This wasn’t even Night Angel’s best performance!

Astronaut really connected with the lyric and put his own subtle spin on One Direction’s “Story of My Life.” It’s a song about love and growth and transformation, and he continues to rise to the occasion each week. This may be his most confident and polished vocal yet.

Guesses: He offered up some strange new clues in his package like four aces and a joker card, a bale of hay, a paper airplane and even a shot of him fishing up lobster. His favorite dish was a Mardi Gras king cake, which he promised was filled with sugar and clues.

Ken followed the king to “Hamilton” and “Frozen” before landing on Jonathan Groff, but Nicole shut him down immediately and thought maybe it was her “Rent” co-star (and “Pitch Perfect” star) Skylar Astin.

Gordon Ramsay, though, thinks the king cake is in reference to JTT aka Jonathan Taylor Thomas of “Lion King” and “Home Improvement” fame.

Turtle came out cooler than we’ve ever seen, with a very strong vocal performance that was his strongest yet. Everyone really did up their game this week. On top of that, his boy band dance move were shining through as he proved he’s got plenty of stage experience.

Guesses: He again talked about his lack of confidence, but he kills it every week He also talked about strategizing as his package showed a living chess game, a heart with a crown on it and clocks set to 9:14.

His “Masked Munchies” dish was colorful chips with an apple salsa, which Gordon just could not handle as a concept. “Do you want the runs?” he asked.

Robin went for a leap back to Gavin DeGraw, but Gordon Ramsay thinks the queen of hearts clue was a reference to Queen the band, thus leading him to previous guess Adam Lambert.

Meanwhile, Ken simply switched 1D alum from Niall Horan to Zayn Malik because Gigi Hadid is the supermodel “queen” and some nonsense about chess. It’s just ridiculous trying to follow his trains of thought as they derail over and over again.

As for Twitter, they’ve had no doubt for a long time that this is Jesse McCartney, and his dance moves tonight only confirmed their suspicions. Seriously, they are ready to die on this hill, and all those Drake Bell guessers can just suck it!.

This Top Six is actually pretty damned impressive, as there wasn’t a genuinely weak singer among them. That said, somebody still has to get the boot and reveal the famous face behind their impressive voice.

While we think Night Angel has faltered slightly, the panel praised her so much this week, we think she’s probably safe. Frog does something so different, you never know how that’s going to translate.

Last time, Kitty was somehow in danger despite the power of her performance, which means she could be at risk this week, as well. For us, though, we’d probably go with Astronaut losing by a fraction of a decimal.

It’s a really tight competition, but we think he falters just enough consistently throughout the competition that it might have finally tripped him up here. It’s either that or Frog’s rapping confused this crowd and sunk him.

In the end, the audience heard what we did, meaning it was the end of the journey for Astronaut. He was great this season, but suffered only in confidence, which marred his performances compared to his competition.

Jenny went wide thinking that was a “platter of cake” to make Ben Platt her final guess. Robin was not here for that at all, standing by Jonathan Taylor Thomas due to the litany of clues before that.

Gordon said he recognized JTT immediately in the beginning, and the cake sealed the deal for him, so he’s standing by his earlier guess as well.

Out of nowhere, Nicole said she had a “light bulb” moment and suddenly found the internet’s favorite guess, Hunter Hayes. She says the clue that gave it away was when they performed at the Capitol together for the Fourth of July (the king cake is just a reference to his Louisiana roots).

Ken took advantage of Nicole’s shift away from Skylar Astin to steal her guess, which he’s proudly been doing a lot this season.

So was Nicole and the collective roar of Twitter over the past several months right? Of course they were. Of course it was Hunter Hayes under there. So the real question is why he was so nervous up there?

We get that he was stretching himself artistically, but the dude has got the chops to pull this off. He was certainly a sentimental fan favorite throughout his run.

“The Masked Singer” is down to its final five, continuing with the quarterfinals next Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.

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