#the masked singer us s10

[themasked-stimmer]

Rubber Ducky (The Masked Singer US 10)

🦆 🦆 🦆/🦆 🦆 🦆/🦆 🦆 🦆

[snowlessknitter]

The Masked Singer: S10 E2 (NFL Night) Running Commentary

Group A returns tonight with a wildcard Mask joining the competition. As always I post before seeing any unmaskings, so don’t consider these spoilers. (I am watching and posting on a delay.)

Cow 🐮: Grew up in a house of all women, boxing gloves with a golden arrow pointing down, and three calves (meaning he has children). The bonus clue: a pair of tap shoes, he says he’s known for his “killer moves”, and then did a spin. The sound of his voice sounded a little more familiar this week, and with his dance moves, I’m kind of leaning towards Ne-Yo, but I am not yet sold on it.

Diver 🤿: A pair of red high heels 👠, and reiterated that he became famous because he was someone people loved to hate. The bonus clue: a “super fan” with a club ♣️ painted on his chest. He says he’s “well-suited for the club”. I’m still thinking Nick Viall from The Bachelor and its related shows, but a lot of people on social media were going with Ken Jeong’s guess, Tom Sandoval. (I’ve never watched Vanderpump Rules or much of anything related to the Real Housewives shows, so I’m not familiar with him.)

Gazelle 🦌: Was pressured to change her name when she was younger. A test with an “A” grade on it. A sign reading “Threat Level: 3” (as in a “Triple Threat” who can sing, dance, and act) and a surfboard (possibly a Teen Choice Award winner). The bonus clue: a football reading “Villain”. She has apparently played a villain in a project. “A” is the name of the primary antagonist in Pretty Little Liars. So I’m thinking this may be Lucy Hale, although the social media buzz seemed to suggest Janel Parrish, which would fit in with the Hawaii clues (as she’s originally from Hawaii).

S’more 🍫: A cauldron, a TV with a letter M. Got his chance at a big break while he was in high school. A game controller. The bonus clue: An orange (he’s tasted victory before, and it possibly references Florida). I’m still getting the vibe that this is a boy band alum. I don’t think it’s Lance Bass, the voice is too high in range. If it’s a Backstreet Boy, I would think that this would be Kevin Richardson. Three major boy bands got their start in Orlando, Florida: Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and O-Town. We’ve had one Backstreet Boy (Nick Carter), two NSYNC members (Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick), and no members of O-Town (whose creation was documented on an MTV series called Making the Band). Vocally, I’d think if it was someone from O-Town, it’d either be Ashley Parker Angel or Dan Miller. But I’m also not ruling out Kevin Richardson, as a lot of the clues seem to point to him.

Pickle 🥒: Joker card, microphone, pictures of Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, and Martin Short. His teachers thought he wouldn’t amount to anything. He might be a comedian, and the microphone looked like something you’d see a podcaster use. Just from the sound of his voice I’m thinking Michael Rapaport. The bonus clue: a grill with an “On Air” sign in it. I’m sticking with Michael Rapaport, as he’s well known for being outspoken and opinionated in addition to his career as a comedian and actor.

[lol-jackles]

I used to like Jensen, but recently I'm really annoyed at him. Maybe as I grow older I'm seeing the lack of genuineness, too clingy personality. Mostly because of his and his fans, the AAs' attitude towards Jared. The whole S9, S10 could've also played a role. I'm now unfollowing all of the jensen blogs I used to follow cuz I don't want to see him on my dash.

Jensen reminds me a bit of an active from the The Dollhouse, a blank slate until he’s needed to perform a certan task: pander to the Destiel or Cockles and then drops Misha like a hot potato full of cooties.  He’s hot and cold with Misha until fans put on the Ophah mask and ask, “so what’s the truth?”  Anyone remember the infamous fan video capturing Jensen and Misha away from the fans and Jensen is pointingly ignoring Misha who awkwardly stands by?  The same blank slate is favored by the AAs because they can project their version of Jensen/Tom/Dean/Alex onto Jensen and he’s perfect in their head.

The whole S9, S10 could’ve also played a role.

Jensen campaigned for a Dean mythical/Dean centric storyline during season 8 and 9 and you may have picked up on it, despite AAs’s best effort to try to paint Jensen as totally uninvolved in the PCA campaigns, even goes as far as to blame his brother-in-law for “backing Jensen into the corner” with the Facebook contest.   I never begrudge an actor for wanting their roles expanded and developed, but at the same time they need to know their place and  keep their ego in check, the show is not about them. Dr Spock is vital to Star Trek and we can’t imagine Star Trek without Spock, BUT he is not the central protagonist.  Try imagine the Star Trek universe centered around Dr Spock instead Capt Kirk.  It does not compute.  A Supernatural centered around Dean doesn’t work and every time they tried it, demo or viewership numbers went down and they have to tied it back to Sam to salvage the show.

Carver said at Comic con before season 9 premiered that *paraphrasing* Dean is a boring character.  You bet he knew about Jensen’s campaigns and Robert Singer backing his efforts.  Actors, producers, showrunners, everyone, indirectly attack actors by going after their characters.  Remember that I said nobody thinks they’re the villain?  Actors don’t think their characters are villains either even when they are playing the bad guy. Carver was publicly warning Jensen that a Dean centric season will not work because he had neither the range or the allure spark to make his lead character interesting without the aid of clever or snarky lines and the can’t-fail trope of the bad boy with the heart of gold.

You don’t need to have great range to be a lead/central focus of a show.  David Duchovny is even less of an one note actor, his monotone voice would normally be grating, but the role of Fox Mulder was perfect him and a foil for the excellent Gillian. Most of all David never pretended he was more than his capabilities and never believed in his own hype.  Personally I think he was a great fool to leave XFiles but that’s another story.  The point being he knew his place on the show and his limits - audience picked up on this and it was part of his appeal and allure that draws people to his character despite the bland voice and bland looking exterior.Then you have the problem of the audience turning against Dean if he goes too dark.  The audience will always root for Sam even when he makes stupid choices because he’s the central protagonist and Jared has the allure spark to make you empathize with his character.   Dean doesn’t have the same luxery because he is a supporting character.  If he turns on Sam the general audience (95% of the viewing audience) will flip on him.  Fans complain that demon Dean arc was too short or MoC Dean arc went no where and they couldn’t tell the difference between regular Dean and MoC Dean and blamed the shoddy writing.  1/3 of the problem was Jensen’s limited range, 1/3 was lack of the allure spark, and 1/3 of the problem is what I just mentioned, you can’t have your audience turning on half of your 2 main characters.  If Spock goes dark and betrayed Kirk and spent a season tormenting and mocking Kirk, only the most rabid brain dead Spockboy is going stick with the character.  Remember kids, the fandom makes up only a sliver of the overall audience.

[snowlessknitter]

The Masked Singer: S10 E8 (Group A Finals/Disco 🪩 Night) Running Commentary

I’m back, after a few weeks off due to my dad’s surgery and then the Thanksgiving holiday week. (Dad’s recovering nicely. But then my brother ended up needing emergency surgery to remove his gallbladder last weekend. He spent the night in the hospital and was able to go home the next morning. But he’s recovering nicely, too.)

Anyway, tonight is the Group A finals. One of these celebrities will be moving on to the finale…unless the judges use their save (the “Ding Dong Keep It On” bell), in which case the saved celebrity will also be moving on to the finale. Whoever isn’t saved will be eliminated.

I am watching on a delay, but all I’m writing here is what I’m thinking as I watch the show. As always, I post these before seeing any unmaskings, so don’t take these as spoilers.

S’more 🍫: So, if I remember correctly, my most recent guess as to S’more’s identity was either Ashley Parker Angel or Dan Miller from O-Town. And tonight’s clues seem to point more towards O-Town in general, as we saw a pair of gator boots, and Florida (where O-Town was formed) is famous for its alligators. I think a past clue also referenced him having a son born at the height of his fame, which leans more towards Ashley Parker Angel. (I don’t know if Dan Miller has any children.) The bonus clue: A key, and he apparently has been to judge Robin Thicke’s house. I think Jenny’s on to this possibly being Ashley Parker Angel.

Cow 🐮: If I remember correctly, I believe my most recent guess to Cow’s identity was Ne-Yo. Caught a football 🏈. And the football was in Las Vegas Raiders colors. Is he maybe from Las Vegas? (Looked it up: Ne-Yo was born in Arkansas and raised in Las Vegas.) Maybe Cow has performed at a Super Bowl (perhaps either in the halftime show or singing the Star-Spangled Banner)? The sound of his voice does line up with Ne-Yo. Let’s see what the bonus clue is. The bonus clue is: A card with the word “Husband” on it. He knows Jenny’s husband, Donnie Wahlberg. I’m sticking with Ne-Yo.

Gazelle 🦌: I believe my most recent guess to Gazelle’s identity was Janel Parrish from Pretty Little Liars. The magnifying glass is definitely a reference to Pretty Little Liars, which had a mystery element to it. The letter clue refers to the show’s primary antagonist, “A”. The previous clue mentioning Hawaii (Janel’s home state) also keeps this firmly on Janel Parrish. Let’s see what the bonus clue is! The bonus clue: a tray with a miniature island on it and a sign reading “Island Vibes”. And she mentioned Nicole Scherzinger. Nicole is also from Hawaii. I’m sticking with Janel Parrish.

[snowlessknitter]

The Masked Singer: S10 E1 Running Commentary

It’s September and it’s finally time for The Masked Singer’s 10th season. There was a sneak peek a couple of weeks ago, featuring a performance from Guest Mask “AnonyMouse” 🐭, who was revealed at the end of the episode to be Demi Lovato. (They are the second guest/non-competition mask to appear, the first was Cludle-Doo 🐔 a few seasons ago, who was revealed to be judge Jenny McCarthy’s husband Donnie Wahlberg.)

But now it’s time for the competition to start for real. I have not seen any sneak peek promo performances in the lead up to this season and I haven’t even really looked at the early clues. This will be judge Nicole Scherzinger’s last season for now. She’ll be doing some stage work in the UK during filming for Season 11, so Rita Ora (who judges the UK version) will be filling in for Nicole next season. But that’s season 11 (which should air next February). Let’s get started with season 10! As always, I post before seeing any unmaskings, so these are solely my guesses, not spoilers.

Gazelle 🦌: Gazelle’s costume looks feminine in presentation. The clues: a poster reading “Hello Doll”. She mentions she took part in a national singing competition as a teen and “crashed and burned”. I think of both Lauren Daigle and Colbie Caillat, who both auditioned for American Idol, but didn’t necessarily get far in that particular competition. We also saw some bulldog statues. The bonus clue is presented by David Spade (who is hosting a new game show called Snake Oil). It reads “Movie Soundtrack”, and she says she’s acted and sung in movies. The singing voice kinda leans more towards Lauren Daigle than Colbie, but I’m at a total guess here for the moment. Robin’s guess of Lucy Hale kind of fits — as she was a contestant on American Juniors, which was a contest to create an American counterpart to the British group S Club Juniors, later known as S Club 8 after the original S Club 7 broke up — but Lucy actually made it into the group. (Unless she was saying that the group itself crashed and burned, as they only recorded one album that was primarily covers of S Club Juniors songs and they didn’t have any hit singles. Lucy later became known for her role on Pretty Little Liars.) I do not have an official guess for Gazelle’s identity at this time.

Diver 🤿: Seen reading a newspaper, saying he’s “everyone’s favorite person to hate”. Knight’s armor, a compass pointing to “MW”, and an hourglass. Sounds like he might be some sort of reality star, possibly either a Kardashian ex, someone who was on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, or maybe somebody from Jersey Shore. The bonus clue: “11 million eyes on Diver”. I’m going to guess it’s either Scott Disick or Nick Viall. Leaning more towards Nick Viall.

S’more 🍫: Went from obscurity to a heartthrob in a matter of weeks. I saw a tip jar covered in ice (“frosted tips”), a Chicago deep dish pizza. I keep thinking a boy band singer, and I initially thought Lance Bass (who hosts a podcast called Frosted Tips), but the singing voice seems too high to be Lance’s (he is the bass singer in NSYNC, although he has sung some more melodic stuff lately using a higher vocal range), and he’s also from Mississippi, not Chicago (unless the pizza is a reference to deep dishing, or conducting in depth interviews, which is what Lance does on his podcast). The bonus clue: “Starring S’more”, and says he’s talented on and off stage. Kevin Richardson from the Backstreet Boys is a good guess as well, although he also has the lowest singing voice in BSB (pretty much a full baritone). Given that NSYNC is about to release their first single in about 20 years this week, it is possible Lance could be S’more. Going from my encyclopedic knowledge of ‘90s boy bands, I think this could be either Jeff Timmons from 98 Degrees (only Nick Lachey has appeared on there) or Jordan Knight from New Kids on the Block (as mentioned earlier, Donnie Wahlberg has appeared as guest mask “Cluedle-Doo”).

Rubber Duckie 🦆 🛁: We see a video tape labeled “The Horror! 3-4”, a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio, a turtle statue. Not exactly the best singer. The voice did not sound familiar to me. He may have been a standup comedian or done comedic acting. The guesses of both David Arquette and Anthony Anderson sound plausible. But I’m totally stumped. I have a feeling he may be the one unmasked tonight, though!

Cow 🐮: Two-Step Coffee, a calendar marked “July 4th”, has won Grammys and performed in Vegas. A strawberry cake with wings on top. Despite being dressed feminine, Cow clearly has a masculine singing voice. The bonus clue: a movie admission ticket. Their fame started with a movie. I’m kind of stumped for the moment.

Of the major American boy bands from the ‘90s, here’s who’s appeared on The Masked Singer (to the best of my memory):

Backstreet Boys: Nick Carter (“Crocodile”)

NSYNC: Joey Fatone (“Rabbit”), Chris Kirkpatrick (“Hummingbird”)

98 Degrees: Nick Lachey (“Pig”)

NKOTB: Donnie Wahlberg (“Cluedle-Doo”)