Heartbreaking Wild Card, Internet Superstar Unmasked

Another Wild Card dropped into the competition to mess things up for the Group B contestants on “The Masked Singer,” and Crab did not come to play around.

It was one of the most poignant and emotional performances we’ve seen yet on this show. But was it enough to overcome the established popularity of Black Swan, Chameleon, Grandpa Monster and Piglet?

Oh, this week also saw the reveal that two of those contestants are now apparently in a feud — but is it a beef born on the show, or another clue about their identities underneath those masks.

Speaking of identities, mad props to one of our panelists for quite possibly coming the closest we’ve yet seen to guessing the identity of the unmasked celebrity and still getting it wrong. That takes an incredible amount of talent.

And while we’re at it, who guessed Morgan Freeman? Like, as a serious guess — yes, this really happened! And we thought we’d heard their worst possible guesses already.

We’re legitimately impressed at this panel’s continuing and escalating terribleness at their one jobs on this show. It’s definitely a commitment to their craft.

Let’s jump right in with this week’s masks. And don’t worry, before we get to the shocking unmasking, we’re 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.

Grandpa Monster brought the energy and a lot of fun to this song about his “Bad Reputation.” It wasn’t a professional-caliber vocal, but he was able to stay in tune and had some grit on it. That said, this is not someone who sings for a living, but someone who definitely knows how to move around and keep things lively. He’s very entertaining up there.

Guesses: The gramophone showed up again this week, along with the reveal that he actually used to hate his own singing voice. We saw a Santa hat, a yellow sportscar, headphones, a compass and a lot about finding himself outdoors.

There’s also apparently some kind of beef between him and Piglet — we thought the contestants didn’t know one another? — as he had him in a bullseye and opened this set by ripping a picture of him in half. Maybe he sees Piglet as his biggest competition, as Piglet is definitely the stronger singer.

Pairing with him saying he’s trained for battle last week and showing what looked like football plays in the shape of a 6 last week, we saw an image of a boxer, which certainly seems to be another sports reference.

This week’s bonus clues featured a trip to the childhood home to reveal their first crush, which for Grandpa Monster was The Rock. We also saw another red sports car on a vinyl record. As for why Dwayne Johnson, GM said it’s because his muscles are huge, his head is shiny and he’s a star.

Ken noted the jetliner in the clue package as something Kevin Hart owns, but mostly he was guessing that because of their famous bromance. It’s not that easy, Ken! Niecy made it very clear for him that Kevin Hart is not that tall, which should seem obvious.

Robin was thinking maybe those quick feet belong to Jack Black, while Nicole wondered if maybe the bad reputation could refer to Jake Paul, who challenged Conor McGregor (her initial instinct) to a fight.

Cloodle-doo teased the feud between GM and Piglet, confirming it’s about how good of a singer Piglet is, but also said it wasn’t the first fight GM had picked, adding a little weight to the idea he’s a boxer or wrestler or fighter of some sort.

One internet guess from last week picked up some traction with the Santa hat, as Jay Cutler was born in Santa Claus, Indiana. A few others liked the Jack Black idea, as well as the Paul brothers, though they were leaning more toward Logan. But most, GM has Twitter as stumped as the panel, so good for him!

Piglet brought up the energy level from his first ballad with an Andy Grammer track, and while it wasn’t as dynamic or exciting as his debut, or Andy’s version, it was nevertheless further proof that he’s got good pipes. He sings like a professional, managing his breath control well on a rapid-fire delivery. It’s a pleasant enough voice, but we weren’t as enamored this time around.

Guesses: This week’s clues were all about the gridiron, with locker room and football imagery everywhere. He suggested that he averages 3,528 inches per game, showed a football score of 11-11 at 50:10 with the ball on the 3 yard line, referencing the show “Friday Night Lights,” which suggests a high school football career.

Outside of that, we saw him shining knight’s armor, saw what looked like a red Koosh ball on a locker, the phrase “Don’t Be a Ball Hog!!” and we learned that he had about four days of notice before he suited up for this big game.

His first crush was Meg Ryan, pictured alongside a first place trophy and a Game Day parking sign, as well as other first prize imagery. He said he loved Meg because he’s a romantic and she’s “the queen of rom-coms.”

Ken had no idea what to do with the clues, thinking Michael B. Jordan or Taylor Kitsch of “FNL,” so instead he just went with JC Chasez based on the quality of the performances. Nicole, though, wondered if it was more about Texas than “FNL” directly, suggesting Austin Mahome.

Robin joked if the knight was a direct reference to Jordan Knight, but it was an actual real guess from Jenny, while the horse on the football helmet had her thinking maybe it’s Jonathan Knight, who lives and works on farms these days.

The panel is creeping closer to Twitter’s favorite Piglet guess, but they’ve yet to land on it. Meanwhlie, the online community is just about locked and loaded on Nick Lachey as their guess, to the point any other outcome would be a real shock to their system.

Black Swan has to be the front-runner, right? She rocked us out last week, and then showed us all facets of her voice with this Shawn Mendes hit. She’s got such a gritty and fascinating tone, but power and control for days. This was mesmerizing in her lower register, but exciting because you just knew she was going to nail those big notes at the end, and she absolutely did. She’s incredible!

Guesses: This week, we saw a giant nickel and penny, both dated 2007, to represent the other swan in her life. Apparently, as her star rose, they disconnected, but never completely lost faith or connection … and they’ve since reconnected.

This was represented by her writing old-school with a quill on a desk a “thank you” note to her counter-swan. We also saw a blue swan picture on the desk, so apparently these swans come in all different colors.

Apparently, Black Swan’s first crush was D’Angelo — wonder if that steamy “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” music video had anything to do with it? You know the one! She said she’s impressed with his voice, talent and ability to play multiple instruments.

In the clue package, we saw the black and white swans on the scales of justice, which had Nicole thinking of singing competition shows, so what if this is former “X Factor” judge Demi Lovato?

Even Black Swan didn’t want to hear Ken’s rationale for once again guessing Lindsay Lohan, with Jenny tearing it down immediately. Robin thinks it might be someone who fired their father and has a (“birds of a feather”) feather tattoo on her wrist, namely Ashlee Simpson.

Just like Piglet, the Twittersphere is feeling pretty confident that Black Swan is their girl JoJo, showing off an even more impressive set of pipes than they already knew she had. She’s certainly an underappreciated artist with a big voice, but is it this voice?

Chameleon brought a very sexy flow this week, offering a realy laid back and cool vibe from top to bottom. He delivered vocally as well as visually, proving that he’s very comfortable doing exactly this up on a stage. This is definitely someone with performing experience, andp probably rap experience as well, because this was polished to perfection.

Guesses: This week, we got a heartbreaking story about a woman he felt inseparable from who was constantly attacked. He said he helped her embrace what made her unique (as he embraces what makes him unique), but she tragically passed.

Since then, he’s made it a mission to fight for others who don’t feel accepted, very deliberately splashing paint from a rainbow-hued paintbrush, making us think he’s a very vocal and staunch LBGTQ+ ally.

We also saw the word “Bonjour” in script, as well as a tailor’s measuring tape, along with the painting of his friend, a block of cheese next to a blue graduation cap and a cab with peaches on the side, which always makes you think of Georgia.

His first crush was Salma Hayek for, basically, the fact that she’s a smoking hot lady. Robin could certainly understand that. Ken is thinking maybe NBA star Iman Shumpert, who recently lost his aunt, but we’re a little more confident this is a seasoned rapper.

Nicole thinks it could be Dwyane Wade, who is heavily into fashion and played b-ball in Wisconsin, thus the cheese. But Jenny thinks that might refer to 2 Chainz for his “Blue Cheese” song and the fact he’s from Georgia.

There are a few fun people jumping on Nicole’s crazy idea from last week that this is actually Nick Cannon, as well as guesses for people like Andre 3000. But most everyone is already figuring out how to slot all the new clues into their certainty this is Wiz Khalifa.

Crab commanded this vocal like an absolute legend up on that stage. His voice is a little more seasoned, but he’s in impeccable control of it. He put little nuances in this classic song to add a little bit of individualized flavor, and it was delicious. It was also a painful rendition, expressing the sorrow of his real-life losses.

Guesses: Crab’s clue package was all about the tragedies his family has endured even has he’s achieved his dreams of stardom. We saw images of a broken mirror and tape being wrapped around his claws, as well as a calculator with “2+3” on it and the Mona Lisa.

He spoke of a darkness that seems to follow his family, and how tragedy always seems to follow blessings, dedicating his song to those he’d lost before him. It was around this time we saw images of Season 1’s Bee (Gladys Knight) and Season 2’s Black Widow (Raven-Symoné), so there must be a connection there.

His first crush was Janet Jackson, and he dropped a huge clue that they grew up together on “Good Times.” But was that literal? Ken shifted from Lenny Kravitz to Bobby Brown, who certainly knows something about tragedy and loss.

Robin wondered if it was Bobby’s New Edition bandmate, who had a “Game-Changer” album and has a fish-related name, Johnny Gill. But Twitter actually thinks Ken is right on this one, the build, the voice and the tragic backstory all fit. Go on, Ken!

There were a few other stray guesses like Brian McKnight, Jermaine Jackson (until Neicy revealed his first crush), Tracy Morgan and even Ruben Studdard. But mostly they were feeling Bobby in the raspiness of that vocal.

Crab came in with a mission, and he delivered with easily one of the night’s strongest vocals. That’s bad news for everyone else … well, except Black Swan. That lady isn’t going anywhere anytime soon!

Truthfully, of the remaining singers on the night, Grandpa Monster seems to have the weakest overall singing abilities. Piglet has shown real range and diversity, while Chameleon is as cool a rapper as the show has seen. GM is fun, but he’s just not in the caliber of the other four.

But the panel and voting audience has done some strange things before (we did have to endure Raccoon twice!) so would they get it right this time? Thankfully, they did. And as we say goodbye to Grandpa Monster, we’re already sweating how much harder it’s going to be in the next round.

• Robin Thicke: first impression (Johnny Manziel), final guess (Johnny Manziel)
• Jenny McCarthy: first impression (Morgan Freeman), final guess (The Miz)
• Ken Jeong: first impression (Emmitt Smith), final guess (Kevin Hart)
• Nicole Scherzinger: first impression (Cam Newton), final guess (Jake Paul)

The panel was all over the place on this one, and so was the Internet, though there was some love for Baker Mayfield for that side-kick move we saw in both of GM’s performances. Ultimately, they just seemed convinced that this was a football player.

In the end, Nicole was so very, very, very close. It wasn’t Jake Paul, but his brother, Logan Paul. Hilariously, Logan thought it was a terrible idea for Jake to challenge Conor to that fight, which Nicole mentioned. But she went with the wrong one!

But Logan has taken up boxing, with the “6” referencing his 6-second start on the defunct Vine platform. In the end, Logan admitted he knew he was outclassed on this show, throwing his support behind Black Swan to win the whole thing. We told you she was a front-runner!

“The Masked Singer” continues Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.