The Masked Singer season 10 kicked off on Wednesday night (Sept. 27) on Fox, and saw a brand new cast of elaborately costumed players performing to see who will emerge as this cycle’s champion. The first unmasking of the season came courtesy of the Rubber Ducky, who took to the stage of the competition show to performing his rendition of Dexys Midnight Runners’ hit “Come on Eileen.”
After the performance, judge Ken Jeong had nothing but praise for the star underneath the mask. “I dare say this is the most fun performance of the night,” he said. “I love everything about this. Amazing job.”
The duck gave a clue that revealed his family is “full of stars,” which prompted Robin Thicke to guess he’s a comedian. “I’m definitely getting a comedian vibe from this guy. I’m thinking famous families, and this guy is known for being in very famous horror movies like Scream … what if this is David Arquette? Famous brother of Patricia Arquette?” he wondered.
Fellow judge Jenny McCarthy, however, had others in mind. “That’s not bad. I could see David doing something like this,” she said. “But … what about Wayans brothers?”
Jeong, who is a comedian outside of the show, put his knowledge to the test and shared his expert opinion on why it couldn’t be one of the Wayans brothers. “They’re, like, two of the most celebrated, legendary stand-up comedians of all time. This person said he did stand-up comedy, he didn’t like it, so right now I’m thinking Anthony Anderson,” he explained. “Anthony Anderson is not known for stand-up, but he is one of the best comedic actors around. That is something that is screaming Anthony Anderson. Great job, Anthony!”
Sure enough, Jeong’s guess was spot on. Anderson was unmasked and joked, “Ken, you finally got something right, baby.” The judge replied, “It’s a season 10 miracle!”
Anderson followed up his elimination with a hilarious exit interview that held a few insights as to why his performance didn’t take flight flight like he intended it to.
“I flew all the way from South Africa to be on the show, and they kicked me off! I’ve always wanted to do The Masked Singer. I got the call, and I was like, ‘Hell yeah!’ My performance … I will admit was slightly off a little bit. I think I was trying to perfect it in rehearsal,” Anderson said. “When it came time to showtime, I didn’t have anything left to give. I over rehearsed. Come on … you’re supposed to breathe through the diaphragm and I have a huge head, but they gave me a small mask. And the mask constricted my mouth from opening to hit the notes I wanted to hit. I mean … yeah, it’s over right now, but … I’ve got your number.”
Watch the judges try to figure out who was behind Rubber Ducky in the above video, and watch the comedian’s exit interview below.
