Masked Singer Kicks Off Season 13 with Comedy Legend Unmasking, Heartbreaking Stories

A new season, of course, means a whole new lineup of mystery stars and the same old lineup of panelists making terrible guesses. Okay, sometimes their guesses aren’t all that terrible, but we’re talking only sometimes. We have already now had guesses for Sabrina Carpenter and Kieran Culkin and it’s only Night 1!

Five new masks entered the fray in this premiere, which featured some incredible and heartbreaking vocals already. Ant broke everyone’s heart with her story, while Honey Pot had us all laughing, and Fuzzy Peas had us seeing triple! Paparazzo was a genuine shock in the best possible way, while Coral’s costume is one of the most intricate (and dangerous) yet!

The Masked Singer brought us back through “The Door” into its “Mad World” to bring “Sexyback” and tease that if we “Just Give Me a Reason” we can “La Bamba” all night long with one of the strongest Group lineups we’ve seen yet.

The season’s first unmasking was also a massive reveal, with an absolute legend in their field standing exposed and sweating after an extremely competitive night of music. Clearly this show is a blast to do, because they’re still booking some major talent!

Let’s jump right in with this week’s mask. And don’t worry, before we get to the shocking unmasking(s), 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 Rita Ora first. We do this because we love … to torture you.

(“Get Lucky,” Daft Punk) Poor Robin, it sounded as if his voice cracked with his first lines and he had to throw in a lot of runs to have near the depth and power of Rita Ora’s opening lines. Then, Mario joined and his much thinner voice continued to struggle to punch through. Luckily, the overall performance from all three was filled with the energy and hype we need after seeing a dozen winners to prepare us for another journey into Masked Singer lunacy!

(“Sexyback,” Justin Timberlake) Honey Pot is a born entertainer, but definitely not a singer. He was capable-ish at carrying a tune and knew the song, but he definitely chose this song to be playful and silly, which worked perfectly. He brought a lot of high comedy, and easily made up for his lack of vocal prowess by bringing a good time!

Clues & Guesses: In the first clue package of the season, Honey Pot revealed a somewhat stout physique, not unlike his costume, in his clue package where he shared that “you can catch flies with honey but you can catch even more honeys being.”

He then played a game show format to tease even more about him, like that he’s one of the “founding fathers of modern day comedy,” and has sold more than $2 billion at the box office. We saw a Lady Justice statue, as well as him trimming a wig at one point, but this package was all about showcasing his funny personality, which just screams comedian.

Jenny wondered if the “founding father” and statue could point to Judge Harvey and Family Feud star Steve Harvey. Ken, though, shifted every so slightly to the Original Kings of Comedy, throwing out his own guess in Cedric the Entertainer, who’s been part of some of the biggest comedy films of all time.

Rita was instead considering Keegan-Michael Key, who was part of The Lion King, while Robin could only echo Ken’s guess … which is honestly the best guess they had based on body type, comedy type, energy type, honestly… he’s our type, too!

(“Just Give Me a Reason,” P!nk) Ant came out to make a statement and she put a punctuation mark on it from the first note. This is a song that demands a lot of emotional connection and power — and range, while we’re at it — and Ant proved she’s got all of it. This is a voice that sounds like it’s maybe out of practice a bit, but has incredible power and range and resonance. That’s a contender, right there.

Clues & Guesses: Her clue package was all about her mission, which is to show that nobody should be so torn down and broken that they aren’t worthy of love and deserve a chance. In her case, she said a “deep, dark secret” she’d carried her whole career resulted in “powerful people tried to erase me.”

She said they tried to brush her off and stomp her out, with the weight of all of it ultimately breaking her spirit. But she chose to stand back up and be a “warrior,” rather than “stay broken.” Along the way to her “march toward change” on this show, we saw images of a dollhouse with a candelabra, a red “X” on a tree, and a wizard hat.

“I will do you justice,” she said upon first seeing her costume. On stage, she added while getting emotional, “I’m really here tonight for all the survivors. I see you. Anyone who’s had to endure, I see you and I support you. Together, no one will ever stomp us out.”

Rita took the vulnerability and the message to Lea Michele, who was Dorothy in the “Legend of Oz,” as Rita called it, as well as her very public loss of Cory Monteith, which she tied to the witch/wizard clue. Robin wondered if this “could finally be the episode that we get Lindsay Lohan on the show.”

Jenny also found a powerhouse woman who’s been through a lot with her Kesha guess, but didn’t hear Kesha’s voice, there. Instead, she thought maybe this could be Ashanti, who starred in the Muppets take on Oz.

(“The Door,” Teddy Swims) Paparazzo was terrified to sing on a big stage for the first time tonight and all we can say is — what took you so long?!?! This was an incredible vocal performance, filled with heart and grit. We were nervous about the song because it does pack such a wallop, but Paparazzo proved he’s got the heart to go there. He may not sing on big stages, but he definitely sings, because that voice is a gift.

Clues & Guesses: Paparazzo has had cameras pointing at him his whole life, suggesting a child star. He even said he took “America’s Sweetheart” to the prom, further solidifying that theory. He said he’s had a chance to work with the greats, showing pics of Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler, and Chris Farley, on the silver screen.

We’ve seen him do a lot of things, he said, but never sing. We also saw a black labrador, a shot of him by a racecar when he talked about being in the movies, and a “Home Sweet Home” rug. On stage, he said he might spill the tea on another friend, Steve Martin, if we keep him around.

Rita’s guess was Elton John film portrayer Taran Egerton. Robin, too, was thinking this might be a chameleonic actor, guessing Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who first starred in the dog film Beethoven. For the first time this season, Ken knew “exactly who this is,” which means he doesn’t. His Kieran Culkin guess was as obnoxious as his jacket, tying the Succession star to Steve Martin through Father of the Bride.

(“La Bamba,” Ritchie Valens) Fuzzy Peas came out with that same comedic energy as Honey Pot, but then surprised us with an impressively strong voice. He lost his breath a bit in the opening bars, but then brought it when he hit the main floor, showing an impressive vocal control and range. He’s not the best singer we’ve seen, but he was surprisingly solid on a track that doesn’t ask too much of a singer.

Clues & Guesses: A third generation in his field, per his clue package Fuzzy Peas maintained a Hispanic accent throughout, which may or may not be authentic (we’ve seen faked accents before). We saw a rubber chicken in a vegetable stand, as well as an XBox controller and a golden globe while he talked about securing a gold record.

He talked about his family fighting for what they believed in and how with a dash of his mother’s passion, he was able to achieve his dreams. He said he’s become known for his hits, with some of them even Grammy-nominated — but he fell shy of explicitly saying it was for his music. That’s got us again wondering if he’s a comedian with some nominations for comedy albums.

“I was nominated with Shakira and Christina Aguilera [at the Grammys],” said Fuzzy Peas on the stage, leaving us even more perplexed. Rita thought we might laugh at her Mario Lopez guess, but it was better than Jenny’s George Lopez joke.

Robin noted Golden Globe nominee John Leguizamo is a multi-talented threat, which was one of the first names we thought of, too. But we also have to consider Marc Anthony and Bad Bunny, who both competed against Shakira and Aguilera for Record of the Year at the 23rd Latin Grammys. Bad Bunny has WWE video game connections, but would he do this show?

(“Mad World,” Tears for Fears) Coral brought the house down with this incredible powerformance. We found ourselves feeling some kind of way about it by the end. It was bizarre, surreal, and stunningly beautifully performed. Her voice was ethereal, haunting, powerful, and even a little creepy at times. She was so in tune with the song and her message, we couldn’t help but hear her loud and clear. That was a moment.

Clues & Guesses: Right away, Coral loved her costume when she first saw it, praising its majestic look with hard, tough edges, “the kind that’s strong and resilient. She shared that she spent years begging people to let her sing, but it took eight years of rejection before she got the chance. From a little girl struggling through the madness of the music industry, she said one small victory (a single yes) turned into her voice being heard across the globe.

“All those nos just made me stronger, and all it took was one yes to start a way to success,” she said perkily on stage. Her clue package showed her hammering on the roof of a literal model home, while a red broken heart on a TV screen accompanied all those nos she got, so could this be a reality singing show reject?

Robin thought of Bebe Rexha due to her her story, as she did fail on Idol, but didn’t hear that in her voice and opted instead to guess Carly Rae Jepsen, who did perform on Grease: LIve! Other reality rejects could include Camila Cabello, Tori Kelly, Maren Morris, Colbie Caillait, and Hillary Scott. Are any of them that bubbly, though?

Ken admitted to some troubles on this one, thinking of the model house to find Sabrina Carpenter, which is definitely his worst guess of the night. Rita wondered if the crystal-clear pop vocal could point to Halsey.

For this first episode, there really only seemed to be one obvious answer, and that’s the one mask who really didn’t have much to offer vocally at all. From Coral touching our hearts to Ant inspiring us, most of these masks were real contenders. One was entertaining, but well out of his league. It had to be Honey Pot, right?

Of course it was. As entertaining as Honey Pot was, this is a singing competition at the end of the day and sometimes that even matters. It was good news for the rest of Group A, though their competition is only going to get harder as the weeks progress.

This season adds a dash of Deal or No Deal with the Crack the Case Clue Cases. For Honey Pot that clue was a gold star. “I’ve done so many things in my career, man, but getting this star made it all worth it!” Honey Pot explained, which just further solidified our favorite guess of the ones we heard. After all, Cedric got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2019.

• Robin Thicke: Martin Lawrence
• Jenny McCarthy: Cedric the Entertainer
• Ken Jeong: Cedric the Entertainer
• Rita Ora: Eddie Murphy

In the end, it was indeed Cedric’s smiling face that emerged from the Honey Pot, laughing and having as much fun in this ridiculous setup as he does on his latest show, The Neighborhood, and he has throughout his career.

One of the greatest standup comics of all time, the Steve Harvey was close as they did star together on The Steve Harvey Show, but Cedric stands tall as one of The Original Kings of Comedy. In a class all his own, Cedric brought the laughs and entertainment until his final breath on this stage, too.

The Masked Singer continues next Wednesday with “Shrek Night” at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.