With a little help from some friends, The Masked Singer kicks off with the infamous William Shatner, aka Season 8’s Knight. He reminds us that The Masked Singer has featured 186 celebrities over 11 seasons. Now it’s time to enshrine some more! The show that keeps you begging and guessing, “Who is that?” is back for Season 12.

Following Rita Ora’s performance of “Who Can It Be Now” by Men at Work, Nick Cannon states that this is the biggest season yet as they have 15 of the most powerful names in TV, movies, sports, and music. Take note! The new mask stats are as follows: 21 Grammy nominations, 14 Emmy nominations, 202 film appearances, and 5 know Taylor Swift. With the Golden Mask trophy on the line, the first five mystery singers must compete and hope their performance is good enough so that they are not the first celebrity to be unmasked. Based on tonight’s performance, it wasn’t hard for viewers to guess who would be unmasked by the end.

Season 12 Kicks Off With a Brand New Twist to the Game

Before the first performance of the night, Cannon revealed that each current singer will have an Ambassador, a former masked singer with a strong connection to the current competitor who will leave clues to the singer’s identity. The Ambassador provides a new twist to the sleuthing, complicating the game for some participants. In the first performance, Buffalo’s Masked Ambassador is Nick Lachey, aka Piglet, the Season 5 winner. In Buffalo’s clue package, Lachey states that Buffalo was “raised in the poorest grasslands” where he would “sleep in roach-filled beds at night and practiced at bus stops by day.” The clues also lead to breaking out of a cattle call, a football player kneeling, being flanked by Betty White and Vanna White, with credits including the Walk of Fame and starring in two of TV’s biggest sitcoms. Lachey also notes that Buffalo is the center of attention at his Super Bowl parties. For his song, Buffalo sang a rousing and soulful rendition of “(I Just) Died In Your Arms” by Cutting Crew. But then, the first big twist of the season came. Another Buffalo! And then another! They’re a trio! A herd! Following the performance, Cannon reveals each celebrity will also receive a gift from their Ambassador, and Buffalo ends up getting a crown from Lachey. Based on the clues, the panel guess that Buffalo could be B2K, Earth, Wind, and Fire, or Nick Lachey tricking them by sending in the other three members of 98 Degrees. Could they be right?

Next up, Woodpecker struts out on stage. Her Ambassador is Season 11’s Miss Cleocatra, Jenifer Lewis. Lewis shares that she has known Woodpecker since her start, calling her a mogul and a chic CEO. Oh, and Woodpecker happens to be friends with Beyoncé. No big deal or anything! The video package shows Woodpecker knocking on a door with a sign that reads “family,” as she mentions that she strives to be the youngest billionaire. The final clue is a S.A.T. Scantron. For her performance, Woodpecker took on Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers.” She is not necessarily the strongest vocalist, but her tone has some smokiness to it. For her gift, Lewis sends her a framed world record. Could this be an athlete? The judges seemingly ignore that and instead guess people like Willow Smith, Halle Bailey, Cardi B, and Kiki Palmer, which all feel like a bit of a stretch.

Group A of ‘The Masked Singer’ Season 12 Is Filled With Heavy-Hitters

After that, it’s time for a show with Showbird! Helping the colorful chickadee is Ambassador Joel McHale, the famed guest panelist who “keeps showing up here.” McHale says that Showbird is out of her element. Set on a soundstage, Showbird says she is a tomboy with Legos and Comic Cons. She’s appeared in some of the biggest blockbusters. Her clue package includes a book titled “Advanced Singing 401,” and a gavel. For her song, Showbird performed “Just Fine” by Mary J. Blige. Her soulful voice makes it a great performance, albeit with a lot of step-touching. For her Ambassador gift, McHale sends her a bucket of popcorn. Though Ken Jeong said it screamed Jennifer Hudson, that quickly earned boos from the audience. Other guesses also include Taraji P. Henson and Kerry Washington. While those are some heavy hitters, none of them seem likely to be Showbird. But it’s early days, and the judges have been known to take wild guesses like this. With McHale as her Ambassador and him introducing a good friend, could this actually be his Community co-star and Lego movie alum Yvette Nicole Brown?

Following their pre-season teaser video, it is Ship’s turn to light up the stage. Her famous alum Ambassador is Queen of Hearts aka Jewel, Season 6’s winner. In Ship’s package, she mentions how “the tides can change from angry to serene on a dime.” It also contains a plane clock and a wanted sign with a $15,000 reward. After stating she made history but lost control, Jewel drops the biggest hint: she and Ship worked together. Okay, so maybe the preseason predictions of Ship being Annie Lennox were off! Ship gives an unsinkable performance of Bastille’s “Pompeii,” and her sultry performance ends up feeling familiar to the panel. For her Ambassador’s gift, she gets a glittery cowboy hat. With the wanted poster and the airplane clock, Rita believes Ship is Cyndi Lauper, but stronger guesses include Joan Osborne, Enya, or Sarah McLachlan. We’ll see if the judges have picked up the right clues to navigate these waters.

The Fall of Leafsheep
Image via Fox

In the category of the weirdest costumes this season, it’s Leafsheep. Rolling out onto the stage, at first, the judges weren’t even sure if the giant ball of fluff was real. Leafsheep’s ambassador is Season 11’s Koala aka Demarcus Ware. With the NFL vet as Leafsheep’s Ambassador, the clues all seem suggest that Leafsheep is another fellow football player. Leafsheep’s clues mention he’s a bit sluggish now, but he once scored headlines, topped the country’s charts, and revived a franchise. The visual clues dropped include a quarter and a seahorse wearing a cowboy hat. Leafsheep rolls around the stage to the tune of Tim McGraw’s “I Like It, I Love It,” and it was an admittedly hilarious performance. It ended with Demarcus Ware gifting Leafsheep with a Hall of Fame trophy. The judges liked it, they loved it, and they felt his identity must be football-related.

When it came to the judges and audience vote, the lowest-voted singer, sadly, was Leafsheep. An expected outcome. Based on the talent of the group, it was the right call. The other four characters will be moving straight on to Footloose Night next week! Before the final unmasking, the final guesses included Troy Aikman, Billy Bob Thornton, John Elway, and Tom Brady. In the end, Ken Jeong was right, Leafsheep was Denver Bronco legend, John Elway! With some strong performers still in the batch, the next round for Group A will have more shocking eliminations, and we’ll see just how right (or wrong) some of these guesses are!

The Masked Singer airs new episodes every Wednesday at 8:00pm on Fox. All episodes are available to stream on Hulu.

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