Despite the elaborate costumes and performances, it's important to remember that the people underneath the masks are still very real.
As a moments page, no spoilers have been marked. You have been warned.
General
- The appearance of anyone who died after their time on the show, contestant or otherwise, can be considered this in hindsight. So far, these include Bob Sagetnote , Leslie Jordannote , Kirstie Alleynote and Jerry Springernote .
- Regarding Bob Saget, this is especially true of Ken's emotional response to his appearance on the show, as Saget had been kind to Ken early in his career and encouraged him to continue with his comedy.
Season 1
- Monster's soulful performance of "Stay With Me
" in episode 8. It was enough to even bring judge Nicole Scherzinger to tears.- Becomes worse when you learn about how he feels abandoned by the music world over his creative choices.
Season 2
- Thingamajig's showstopping performance of "Rainbow" moves just about everybody in the audience, especially Nicole. Also doubles as a Heartwarming Moment
- Flamingo revealing part of the reason she's so insecure about her singing voice is because someone told her she'd never amount to anything. Just... damn.
- Fox gets rather choked up when talking about how badly he wants to win and prove to the world what a talented performer he is.
Season 3
- T-Rex mentioned that she practiced her third song constantly until she could get it perfectly, only for her to be eliminated anyway.
- In the finale, Night Angel gets choked up as she talks about how her insecurity about her singing abilities and thanks the panelists for their kind words regarding her performances.
Season 4
- Serpent is revealed to be Dr. Elvis Francois, who did his part for the COVID19 pandemic period (his practice is in orthopaedic medicine and not virus-related) by singing "Imagine" and going memetic as a result. Ken Jeong, who's also a doctor, is not only massively humbled but close to tears as he acknowledges Dr. Francois's work.
- During a skit in Group C, Broccoli and Mushroom are shown attempting to forge a partnership to get into the Super Six. In the end, a surprise win by Jellyfish forces the two to go against each other in the Smackdown, where Broccoli is defeated.
- The Sun's a capella performancenote of Billie Eilish's "When The Party's Over" in the Super 6 is so powerfully chilling it has to be heard to be believed. Nicole, Ken, and guest panelist Craig Robinson are understandably crying at the end.Craig Robinson, in tears: All my life, I have felt the heat of the sun. But until now, I had never heard the voice of the sun.
Season 5
- Crab’s performance of “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers. Both Nicole Scherzinger and Jenny McCarthy are brought to tears. It’s even more emotional in hindsight, knowing that it’s Bobby Brown under the mask and that he's singing in memory of his two children who have died.
- After his second performance, Crab suddenly begins to feel out of breath and requests to leave the stage and take his mask off (this is where the next commercial break begins). While he manages to stay in the competition (unlike Season 4's Gremlin), everyone was concerned for the Crab during his brief period of recovery.
- Upon being unmasked as the Crab, Bobby Brown gets choked up when talking about the passing of his daughter Bobbi Kristina and his son Bobby Jr., saying how he initially decided to come on the show as a tribute to his late children.
- Orca's clue package brings up the passing of his father, which immediately draws the attention of Robin Thicke, who's lost a father too.
- There's a disturbing trend of sorts when Robopine also mentions that a friend of his was "taken too soon, in the most tragic way." It becomes even more of a tearjerker when you learn eventually that the friend in question is Paul Walker.
Season 6
- While it doubles as Heartwarming, what is Cupcake's reason for being on the show? One of their family members got some bad news about their health and they wanted to cheer them up.
- During the Time Warp episode, each singer is asked where they would go if they had a time machine. While most of the singers pick a happy moment in their lives, Skunk's moment is her biggest regret: she was at a restaurant and her pride prevented her from saying hello to a loved one and it ended up being the last time she ever saw that loved one.
- It becomes even more heartbreaking in hindsight when it's revealed to be Faith Evans under the mask, and the loved one she never got to say goodbye to was The Notorious B.I.G.. They both saw each other at a party but Faith hesitated to speak to him because they were separated at the time, and tragically, that was the same night Wallace was murdered. Faith's voice noticeably breaks when she recalls getting the phone call to come to the hospital, and several audience members can also be seen wiping their eyes.
- At the end of the fourth episode, Baby started crying the moment he was eliminated. Thankfully, Hamster went to hug and comfort him before going backstage with the other safe contestants.
- Queen of Hearts' performance of Sia's "Bird Set Free" not only leaves Nicole and Ken in tears, but she starts choking up in the middle of talking about how the song resonated with her.
- Bull revealing in his final clue that he was actually close to giving up singing before he got the call to appear on the show due to what is heavily implied to be serious bullying. Needless to say, the panel is moved and tell him that he shouldn't let others get to him because he's amazing at it.
- Similarly, to Queen of Hearts, after his final song "Invisible" by Hunter Hayes, Nicole and Ken are also crying and Bull begins sniffling back tears when he talks about how he relates to the song and how much his time on the Masked Singer has meant to him.
Season 7
- Firefly's time on the show starts off on the wrong foot, as she begins choking midway through her first performance. This results in her number abruptly ending as she's rushed backstage for medical treatment. Thankfully, she recovers and is able to do her performance again at the end of the episode.
- The panel's reaction to Firefly's sudden deterioration is also heart-tugging. Nicole and Robin start anxiously shouting for someone to help her, Jenny clutches at her hair in a silent panic, and Ken bolts up from his chair and sprints down to the main stage, pleading for the medics to hurry.
- After being revealed to be in the Duel with Ram, Firefly walks off stage, implied to not be out of rage, but out of fear. The poor girl can't catch a break. Luckily, she manages to beat Ram and move on.
- Thingamabob revealing in his third clue package that in spite of him being a good son who didn't like upsetting his family, they didn't support him when he told them what he wanted to with his life until he proved to them, he was good at it. He even mentions that his siblings stopped talking to him.
- Armadillo's heart-tugging performance of "Amazing Grace" is not only enough to drive Nicole and Robin to tears, but poor Armadillo starts breaking into sobs mid-sentence when talking about how he wanted to dedicate his performance to his mother.
- Robin even begins to choke up himself when he mentions how the song helped him through his darkest times, and tearfully thanks Armadillo for bringing such authentic emotion to the stage.
- The final Duel of the season winds up being a teammate vs teammate duel, as Baby Mammoth and Space Bunny go against one another. Space Bunny winds up winning, and Baby Mammoth is sent home.
Season 8
- Harp's portion of the Battle Royale against Fortune Teller takes on a more somber tone when she delivers a soft, soulful rendition of "Everywhere You Look", which leaves the whole audience and panel in tears.
- Ken in particular takes it pretty hard and begins to audibly choke up when thanking Harp for her performance, telling her that he hopes that the late Bob Saget is looking down on them all right now.
- Ken's reaction is particularly heartbreaking if you remember how warmly he and Bob Saget interacted with each other in Season 4, with Ken personally crediting Saget with helping to kickstart his comedy career. It's undeniable that Ken was thinking of his old friend in that moment.
- The end of Episode 7 gives an In Memoriam to Leslie Jordan, who passed away weeks before it aired.
- Hearing Sir Bug a Boo cry out "I Don't Wanna go Home" after he lost to Snowstorm is quite upsetting.
- Snowstorm breaking down crying when explaining how Squiggly Monster (a.k.a the late Bob Saget) was a huge supporting presence in her life, even when other people would tell her she didn't have "what it takes." She further laments that Saget was taken from them far too soon, and credits him with inspiring her to appear on the show.
- Speaking of Snowstorm, in her final clue package, she reveals that she wanted nothing more than to be a pop star growing up, only for her vocal coach to tell her mom that she basically had no talent for it. Needless to say, the panel is moved and tell her that she most certainly does have what it takes once she's unmasked.
Season 9
- After making it all the way to the Group A finals, Medusa ends up defeated by the California Roll and you can tell she's utterly crushed. Even after she's saved by the bell, she's still very clearly choked up.
- The finale is utterly gut-wrenching, with several moments from both finalists that are sure to touch the heartstrings.
- Both Medusa and Macaw reveal during the finale that both of them weren't sure how they would do and how they weren't sure they would even continue singing when the show was over, both getting choked up as they talk about it.
- Medusa dedicating her performance of "Welcome to The Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance to her sister who passed away, saying that it was her favorite song and that how good it felt to be able to end her Masked Singer journey by honoring her memory.
- Following his unmasking, David Archuleta gets teary-eyed as he opens up about how much he struggled with coming out as LGBTQ+ and reconciling that with his religious upbringing, even confessing that his conflicted feelings led to him dealing with suicidal thoughts. The audience, panelists, and Medusa are all visibly and audibly moved.
- Ken Jeong gets teared up as he recalls watching episodes of American Idol season 7 while he was by his pregnant wife's hospital bedside and not knowing whether or not she was going to make it and Ken calls David Archuleta a "ray of light" in his life.
Season 10
- Anteater's first Clue Package as a whole, talking about how the trappings of fame took a toll on his personal life and his sense of identity. It takes a turn for the heartwarming, though, when he goes on to describe how he managed to rebuild his life and start a family with his true love.
- Hawk revealing in his Harry Potter Night clue package how someone close to him lost her battle with cancer and how it led him to a dark place before he was able to open up and get the mental help he needed.
- Donut's Clue Package on Trolls Night is absolutely heartbreaking to listen to, especially when he talks about how he lost his beloved partner and how difficult life has been since she passed away, calling her "My Smile". Poor Donut is audibly crying throughout this part of the package, and the whole panel is also in tears.
- The whole panel is in floods after Donut's performance, particularly Robin, who knows all too well the pain of losing a loved one. Donut's choked up response to Robin's praise is gut-wrenching.
Donut: I thank you very much. It was all for her.
Season 11
- Poodle Moth has several tear jerkers throughout her time on the show.
- Poodle Moth's Clue Package on TV Themes Night sees her talk about how her father walked out of her life without warning and never read the letters she tried to send him, leaving her heartbroken and damaging her self-worth. It turns into a happy tearjerker, however, when Poodle Moth mentions how she grew through the pain and learned to love herself, as symbolized by her writing a letter to herself.
- Shower Anthems night has her reveal that she sings in the shower to let her feelings out while also implying her childhood was...less than happy.
- When her clue reveals she has a connection with Robin, she admits that she worked with his dad and struggles to keep herself from tearing up, implying that she misses him just as much as Robin.
- During Transformers Night, Goldfish is revealed to have a messy love life, mentioning how not only was one of her break-ups public, but people made TikToks about it.
- Goldfish makes another heartbreaking revelation during Queen Night: she lost her biggest supporter (a photo seen in her Clue Package heavily implies this person to be her father) right before taking on a big role. Goldfish can heard tearing up as she talks about how she found the strength to perform despite her grief and Rita is similarly left in tears after the Clue Package and performance. Later on, as she theorizes that Goldfish could be Vanessa Hudgens, Rita highlights how she considers Vanessa a friend who was nice to her when she first arrived in the United States and tearfully empathizes with Vanessa for the 2016 loss of her father.
- Not to be left out, Gumball's clue packages don't paint the happiest picture of his life either. To wit, he was the kid that moved around a lot and was willing to try anything to get people to like him, leaving him with a case of imposter syndrome that still persists to the current day to the point where he almost backed out of doing the show. Additionally, his wife, who he loves more than anything, has health problems that Gumball all but states will doom her to an early grave.
