The Masked Singer Semi-Finals Recap Season 3, Episode 16: All-Star Athlete Unmasked

There’s only one week left until the season finale of “The Masked Singer,” but before we can get there, one more artist needed to be eliminated in the semi-finals.

In what is probably the tightest race yet on the craziest show on television, it really was almost anyone’s game going into this episode. We say almost, because despite coming out strong in early rounds, Night Angel has faltered in recent weeks.

Of course, we say that and she’s continued to get nothing but praise from the panel and sailed through every vote so maybe we’re the ones who are wrong.

Far more consistent are the guys left in the competition, with Frog, Rhino and Turtle each delivering their own styles (hip-hop, country and pop, respectively) consistently each and every time they hit the stage.

At this point, it may just come down to personal genre preference as to who goes and who stays. One thing’s for certain, comedian Jay Pharoah felt he had some insight on one semi-finalists, feeling very confident in his guess.

It was a heartbreaking elimination as another fan-favorite got the boot and proved that talent can come from anywhere! But who came up just short?

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.

Night Angel redeemed her last couple lackluster performances with an incredibly fresh take on Lil Wayne’s “How to Love.” It was heartfelt and beautifully realized. She showed her range, her attitude and a very cool, fresh vibe on the track that felt both relevant and memorable. It was a strong statement toward the finale that hopefully pays off and a return to form for the early frontrunner.

Guesses: Night Angel talked about having a guardian angel this week, along with the random clues of a football and soccer ball. When she got up close and personal to the panel, they noted a moon pin matching with the moon on the stage.

Jay was picking up strong En Vogue vibes, feeling confident that she’s one of them before settling on Dawn Robinson. Ken Jeong mispronounced his guess Ciara (“In Korean it’s pronounced See-AR-uh,” he explained) and was even shut down by Nick Cannon, rarely interjecting, to point out that Ciara is “a little pregnant right now, Ken.”

Jenny still thinks it’s Kandi Burruss, with her son Blaze and having lost someone close to her, which puts her firmly in line with what the internet has been saying all along. On top of that, Jenny said she thinks Night Angel has a shot at winning this whole thing, while Nicole took it a step further and predicted it.

The internet wasn’t as sold on this performance as the panel and we were, but they are absolutely sold on it being Kandi.

Turtle was right in his wheelhouse with a commanding performance of Nick Jonas’ “Jealous.” He effortlessly hit those falsettos and showed off his stage presence throughout. This is a seasoned performer and a confident pop vocalist, and with Astronaut out of the competition, he’s the only one in his lane.

Guesses: For his closer look, Turtle brought them a massive ring to look at, coupled with a heaping of praise for his childhood idol Robin Thicke in his clue package and a “Back” street sign, echoing BSB and boy band clues throughout the season.

Ken finally made his way through the Backstreet Boys with his guesses, shifting to Kevin Richardson this week, so he’s clearly shooting in the dark here. But at the same time, he’s not that far off.

Nicole was also thinking BSB, but shifted over to the more likely Nick Carter, based on the vocals alone. Robin latched onto the clues about himself to think it might be one of his earliest fans from “American Idol,” Season 1 runner-up Justin Guarini.

This week, out of nowhere, the internet suddenly added Corbin Bleu to their ongoing conviction that Turtle is Jesse McCartney. Perhaps the surprise of Jackie Evancho under the Kitty costume has shaken their confidence.

Rhino took that Tim McGraw guess right to the stage by singing his “Humble and Kind” and Jenny was right to call it sweet. There was a tender sincerity to his voice that carried with a sense of wonder the original track didn’t have. Rhino brought a whole new tone to the song, but we can’t tell if it’s a youthful innocence or the naivete of a non-singer trying to reach that level of conviction and depth.

Guesses: This week, he exposed his vulnerable side by talking about literally wearing a mask to hide his shame early in his career (that’s an odd clue) while also showing some zen imagery, a trombone and talking about his three baby rhinos.

When he got close to the panel, they noted the baby rhino pin on his jacket lapel. Did that help Ken? Absolutely note, he just continued his ridiculous “JAG” theories, deciding it was a guest on the 9th episode of the 9th season, Barry Zito (Jenny McCarthy’s guess from a few weeks ago).

But as we’ve mentioned, Rhino already said he’s not an athlete. Nicole took the pin to refer to Jason Aldean’s baby Navy and his last album “9.” Jay, though, took his size and the trombone to guess Blake Shelton, but he wasn’t real confident in his own pick.

Also not confident is the internet, with guesses ranging across the country music spectrum this week, along with people simply saying have no idea who it is,

Frog slid back into his more confident arena with another old-school hip-hop (hooray) classic and he again sounded fantastic on it. Old-school rap has a totally different sound than modern rap, which makes it a skill uncommon among younger rappers, but Frog is effortless with this flow and style. He’s a true master who we suspect goes back in the genre.

Guesses: Frog revealed that he has a young daughter and promised her the trophy if he wins. His clue package also showed a slam dunk, the number 1000 and pink hair rollers, which only fueled the Bow Wow convictions of the internet.

When Frog got up close and personal with the panel, he showed off a “Mom” pin on his jacket, but did it help the panel? Jenny decided on a whim to follow Chicago in a prior package and “Hey, Ma!” for the pin to Chance the Rapper, but even she acted like it was just a lark guess and not to be taken seriously.

Jay was getting vibes from Frog that had him thinking Millennial and B2K and Omarion, which has been a previous guess from the panel, though he doubts Omarion can rap like that. Instead, he looked at his height and decided it’s someone close to Omarion that he grew up with, Bow Wow.

Robin thinks the additional clues also point to Bow Wow, which has been his guess for a while now and the internet’s guess forever. But Ken, never one to let logic stand in his way, rejected the clues to throw out fellow B2K member Lil’ Fizz — probably just to be different.

This one, though, has been a lock for so long we’re starting to think the internet was guessing Bow Wow for Frog before the season even started. And every single clue fits his entire career. Yeah this one is as locked as any guess can be. Unless it’s Jackie Evancho (again).

This one was an absolute nailbiter because every performance was so close. Cynics of the show would say that because Jay seemed so confident he knew who Frog was based on their history together that he would be unmasked, but based on performance we’re not sure.

We’re way beyond this being just a singing competition, it’s as much about personality and heart as anything else. With that the case, and based on what was delivered tonight, we’d say it was Turtle who came up just short compared to the other three competitors.

Night Angel was the strongest she’s been in weeks and Rhino really touched everyone’s hearts. And Frog, well he just entertains the hell out of every audience he gets in front of. But who didn’t entertain them enough this week?

Apparently, touching their hearts wasn’t as important as bringing that boy band energy, and so it was the end of the road for Rhino.

When it came to final guesses for Rhino, Robin noted that he traced his hand in a clue package and thought maybe bored in the room was a boardroom reference and Trace Adkins was on “The Apprentice” was one season.

Ken doubled down on his stolen-from-Jenny Barry Zito guess with some of the pitcher and baseball clues, while Jenny reluctantly agreed, noting the three quarters could reference his number 75.

Nicole, though, still thinks it’s a country singer and waffled from Sam Hunt to Jason Aldean for her Navy and 9 reasons from earlier.

“The only white, tall country boy I know, Blake Shelton,” Jay threw out, clearly feeling out of his league on this one. The internet has been jumping back and forth from Barry to Sam as well, settling mostly on Sam Hunt in recent weeks. So who was right?

It turns out second guessing yourself is never a good idea because their initial instinct was Barry Zito and that’s exactly who it was. What a surprisingly authentic country voice he’s been hiding all these years.

What’s most amazing is that Ken was absolutely right about him guest-starring on that single episode of “JAG,” leading Ken to demand an apology from Nick for shutting him down so hard.

“The Masked Singer” wraps up and crowns its third winner next Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Will it be Frog, Night Angel or Turtle?

Got a story or tip for us? Email TooFab editors at [email protected].