Awesome / The Masked Singer

Though a goofy, funny show, The Masked Singers occasionally break out a performance that stops the crowd dead.

Due to being a moments page, no spoilers have been marked. You have been warned.

General

• Anytime someone manages to not have a single judge correctly guess who they are, especially if they made it particularly far.
• Anytime a non singer makes it to the later points of the contest, especially if they happen to outlast the season's Living Legend.
  • Jellyfish (Chloe Kim) and Kangaroo (Jordyn Woods) get special mention as both of them admit that they have never sang in front of people before and yet both make it to the merge, with Chloe managing an impressive 5th place.
• Anytime a judge has the sole correct guess on someone identity.
  • Bonus points if it's Ken.

Season 1

• The first performance of not only the season, but the entire series—the Peacock's rendition of "The Greatest Show". This just sings "you've never seen anything like this before".
• Ken Jeong somehow missing that the Poodle was someone he knew personally immediately became a Never Live It Down moment for him. Just one week later, he redeems himself by making the one spot-on guess that week.
• Episode 6. The Monster has possibly the most cumbersome outfit of all, basically a dressed-up Bankruptcy Barrel with the "mask" being more of a lid - and yet in episode 6 he can bust dance moves in it, earning uproarious cheer. Especially impressive when it was revealed that the person inside the costume is not especially slender.
• The Monster's famous take on "Stay With Me," proving T-Pain has genuine pipes.
• The Peacock's rollicking rendition of "Shake Your Tail-feather".
• The finale. The Monster — revealed to be T-Pain — defeated Donny Osmond and Gladys freaking Knight. A relatively young artist who's known for using a lot of Auto-Tune not only revealed that he has a truly stunning voice — he managed to beat two Living Legends. This is Lampshaded by Nick after his unmasking.
  • The cherry on top? Not a single judge guessed his identity correctly!

Season 2

• The Thingamajig bringing Nicole to tears with his rendition of "Rainbow".
  • Despite coming across as a Suspiciously Similar Substitute to the Monster, Thingamajig sings well enough to reach the semi-finals. He's not even one of the musicians. He's an athlete. And he outlasted this season's Living Legend!
• The Rottweiler, until then a solid but not front runner contestant, shocking the crowd and judges with a powerful take on "Someone You Loved".
• Ken got a Christmas gift in the Holiday episode with a bit of that "History Repeats" business. After failing to figure out the Tree's secret identity whom he knew personally, Ken solely correctly guesses the Thingamajig's secret identity.
• The Fox's winning performance of "Try a Little Tenderness", with the Fox doing an improvised rap midway! Even better? After he wins, he does it again. We all knew Wayne Brady was skilled at improvisation, but... wow.
• The fact that Wayne Brady (more widely known as a comedian/talk show-game show host) managed to take 1st place over Chris Daughtry.
• Despite not winning, special mention should go to Chris Daughtry for going through the entire season up to the finale and successfully having NONE of the judges guess his identity at ANY point during the competition.
• A moment for the Leopard, who adopts a hilariously hammy, dramatic, and over-the-top persona to go with his outfit, and sticks with it the entire time. This persona works to throw the judges off so well, they actually thought Leopard was a drag queen for several episodes!
• Before performing in one round, the Butterfly was electrocuted during a rehearsal but that didn't stop her from singing her heart out to "Livin' On A Prayer".

Season 3

• When the third season boasted about having the biggest celebrities yet, their claim was Not Hyperbole. Combined with the harder clues, the entire panel and audience were downright stunned when the first celebrity unmasked, Lil Wayne, was revealed. Just goes to show how incredible the combination of the complex clues and the singing threw off everyone that much. And given that's just the first out of 18 contestants, that's just the tip of the iceberg!
  • Bonus points for Robin failing to deduce the Robot's identity—considering that he worked with him five times!
• Banana and Taco becoming the first food costumes to make it past the first round.
  • And the second round, too!
  • Sadly Taco got knocked out in the third round, but Banana is off to the Super Nine!
• Taco's pitch-perfect rendition of "Fly Me To The Moon". Who knew Tom Bergeron had such an impressive set of pipes?
• Just the identities of the singers this season. When Fox mentioned having the biggest celebrities this season, they meant it. Thought Lil' Wayne was a big deal? How about Drew Carey, Tony Hawk, Tom Bergeron, Rob Gronkowski, and Sarah Palin?!
• Frog's Fancy Footwork whenever he's on stage!
• Regardless of how you feel about the song, or Sarah Palin as a person, or her singing abilities... the fact remains that Baby Got Back is not an easy song, especially if you're not someone who sings or raps a whole lot. The fact that she managed to keep up with the flow — with altered lyrics! — without missing a word is genuinely impressive, something the judges even comment on.
  • And credit where credit's due: none of the judges guessed who she was!
• T-Rex with her high-energy dance moves, which with one of the biggest headpieces and known visibility problems all the singers face, can not be easy.
  • Adding on to the fact she's the youngest competitor on the show so far, at 16 years old at the time of her unmasking!
• Night Angel's performance of "Shout" is already bursting with energy, but at the end of the song Night Angel shocks the judge panel by busting out her operatic skills and hits some tremendously high notes.
• Kangaroo revealing that the show is the first time she's ever sung in front of anyone, ever. All the panelists are completely gobsmacked. In fact, she has decided to announce her first official album less than a week after her unmasking aired.
• Jenny picking up on some very small clues and piecing together that Kangaroo is Jordyn Woods just before she's unmasked. Jordyn is duly impressed, especially since everyone had been way off with all their guesses up until them.
  I was shook!
• Guest judge Sharon Osbourne instantly guessing The Banana is Poison frontman Bret Michaels a scant couple of lines into his performance of Knockin' On Heaven's Door. And proving to be correct when he was booted the same episode.
  • After becoming the first (and thus far, only) judge in the American version to land three in a row during Season 2^note Patti LaBelle, Michelle Williams, and Ana Gasteyer, Jenny broke her own record of most consecutive eliminated contestants correctly identified in this episode with her fourth in a row, pinpointing JoJo Siwa, Rob Gronkowski, Jordyn Woods, and Bret Michaels in successive order.
• Just before the Season 3's finale, Ken Jeong finally got the celebrity behind the Rhino costume correct. Even if Jenny was the first to deduce his identity, he was able to use subtle and out there clues (specifically the number 9 and Navy cap referencing Barry Zito's one-off appearance on JAG) to help build a case for figuring him out.
  • Rhino placing 4th in the semifinals is also a personal achievement, since he'd just beat Thingamajig's record of being the longest lasting athlete in a singing competition.
• Night Angel aka Kandi Burruss becoming the first woman to win the show.

Season 4

• The season made history three times over with a few of their costumes:
  • While Thailand used this concept a few times before, the Snow Owls are the first ever duo costume on the US version of the show. Additionally, the costume is mobile, meaning one of the owls have to control it via handlebars.
  • The Serpent is the show's first animatronic costume. The six protrusions sticking out behind it are moved with animatronic magic.
  • Lastly, the Baby Alien did something no other version of the show did before—instead of being a regular costume, the costume is puppeteered from the inside by the celebrity!
• The Snow Owls instantly knock it out of the park with an absolutely gorgeous rendition of "Say Something". What a way to make an entrance.
• The sixth episode starts with a quality performance of Maroon Five's "Memories" by a guest panelist called "Mr. TV". None of the panelists are able to identify him, even though he turns out to be Wayne Brady, the season 2 winner. He has range!
• Mushroom's performance of Unconditionally is gorgeous.
• With Popcorn moving on to the Super Six, she became, by default, the highest-ranking food-based contestant on the show to date. They certainly have come a long way since the Pineapple...
  • Additionally, Popcorn beats the Snow Owls by singing Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You", a love ballad that you’d expect the Owls to sing.
• Ken manages to make three spot-on guesses this season! To put it in perspective, that's half of the correct guesses Ken made in the entire series!
  • While his correct guesses of Squiggly Monster and Jellyfish were shared with other panelists (though among the regular panelists he's the only correct guess for the latter), Ken still managed to be the sole judge to identify Whatchamacallit.
• The Sun's performance in the Super Six of "When The Party's Over" left the judges in Stunned Silence of the best kind from how beautiful it was, as the choice to go for just the vocals with no backing track definitely paid off.
  • It gets better, as her performance of "The Story" allows her to beat Crocodile and Mushroom and win the Golden Mask.
• Regardless of how many outgoing singers Jenny guessed right, the new "First Impressions" gimmick lets her surpass that - the way it works is, everyone's original guess upon each singer's first performance is archived, and you only get a point if that guess is the right one, not if you change your mind later, even if your final guess is correct. Jenny still managed to get 4 (Mickey Rourke, Wendy Williams, Bob Saget, and Nick Carter) right, earning the new Golden Ear trophy.

Season 5

• How do you start a momentous game-changing season such as this one? Have the first unmasked contestant be Kermit the Frog. No, really. Ken outright called him the single most famous individual to ever appear on the show. The audience's joy when he popped out of the costume was explosive.
  • Bonus points for how Kermit chooses to reveal himself. He doesn’t pop out right away, instead waiting a few moments for Niecy to take a peek into the Snail costume. Then, after Neicy confirms the costume is occupied, Kermit first puts his hands on the side of the shell, causing an audible gasp, and then he pops out to what might be the biggest round of applause on the show yet.
• Eventually it was inevitable Nick Cannon would come back to resume hosting duties, but how does he come back? By competing as the Bulldog and being unmasked that night! Now that's how you make a return.
• Yeti's performance in the Super Eight has him giving an emotional piece, on roller skates. And keep in mind, the Yeti is among the biggest costumes of the season, so moving around normally isn't exactly easy.
  • If that wasn't enough, his Spicy Six performance, where he switches up the emotional ballads for some funky beats, has him do the whole rap with impeccable flow - all while dishing out moves some contestants on The Masked Dancer wished they had (including ending with a split), once again in one of the bigger costumes of the season. Talk about talented!
• Before launching into his performance of "Superstition" in the quarterfinals, Piglet wows everyone with something no other contestant on the show has done before—singing opera.
• The Golden Ear trophy has somehow led to a legit competition between all the panelists - Ken not only managed to get two "First Impression" guess points^note Phoenix, even though he switched his final answer, and Crab, but for half of the season was tied with Jenny to win the Golden Ear trophy, and ended up with the second highest score. And in the second last episode, Robin gets one.
  • It's also very hard to get a last minute upset with how the Golden Ear competition works, but Jenny somehow nails the very last guess of the season, earning the trophy for the second time in a row!
• Piglet ends up becoming the first boy bander to outright win the contest.

Season 6

• For once, it's Ken who manages to solely net both the first correct guess and First Impression of the season by guessing Octopus to be Dwight Howard—which more than makes up for him making a fool of himself with Phoenix the previous season.
• The fact that, one episode in, Bull has already impressed the judges so much that Robin outrights says they think he's going to the finale.
  • Sure enough: he defeated Skunk in the Group A finale, sending him straight to the Grand Finale!
• Even though she was eliminated early, the Cupcake did a very good job of throwing off the judges, to the point where only one judge guessed her identity correctly, and nobody got the first Impression!
• It's mentioned by the panelists that the Pufferfish's voice sounds almost altered, as though she's trying to throw them off. After she's unmasked, Toni Braxton explains that she has lupus, and in order to appear on the show without risking her fragile health during the pandemic, she wore a medical mask underneath her costume mask! On a show where the costume masks are known to make it difficult for people to breathe, she was double-masked the entire time!
• Skunk has been bringing it from the start, as the very first performance of the season, and then in episode 2 with the showstopper of the week. Robin is standing on the table while Nick is brought to his knees.
  • In the very next episode Skunk appears in, Robin says that she is his all-time favorite singer from the show.
• Although he's the first wild card eliminated, Larry the Cable Guy manages to outwit the entire panel by not being guessed even once - not even by Jenny, who co-starred with him in one of his movies.
  • Bonus points for managing to hide his instantly recognizable voice with a Cockney accent.
• Queen of Hearts does something no prior contestant has done: sing in another language and she does it flawlessly!
  • Even more impressive? She's never sang in another language before.
• While Hamster got beaten to the punch for the first non-English tune, his rendition of "Sabor a Mi" is astoundingly good - moreso when we learn that he's not even a career singer, he's Rob Schneider!
• After several episodes, Nicole finally joins Ken in getting a point for the Golden Ear after managing to nail Pepper as Natasha Bedingfield.
• Banana Split breaking the record for food costumes by managing to reach the top 4.
• All of Bull's insane choreography on stage, which has included, among other things, splits, kicks, jumping and a freaking trust fall. There's a reason that everyone correctly assumed he was going to make the finals.
• Queen of Hearts' duet with Nicole to "Dream On" is nothing short of spectacular. Both singers hit the high notes absolutely flawlessly, and by the time the performance is done, Robin, Ken, and Jenny are all standing on the desk and the entire audience is on their feet applauding.
• In a Masked Singer first, every panelist but Robin gets the First Impression guess for Banana Split correct. This also means that, for the first time in the show’s history, every panelist has a point.
• Nicole, as it turns out, had nailed Bull as Todrick Hall for her First Impression but had kept it under wraps in order to throw people off and it came back when she needed it most: to give her one more point for the Golden Ear, allowing her to beat out Ken, end Jenny's winning streak, and take the win.
  • Bonus points for the fact that despite knowing who Bull was all along, Nicole decided not to use the Take It Off Buzzer so she wouldn't prematurely take a frontrunner out of the competition—the very reason why the buzzer wasn't well-received by audiences to begin with—only hinting that she knows his true identity by dropping clues throughout the season.
  • The fact that Ken once again was in the running and nearly won the Golden Ear is still a big feat for Ken's usual guess track record.
• Queen of Hearts, revealed to be Jewel, becoming the season's Dark Horse Winner by managing to beat out not only Bull, who was lauded the whole season for having some of the best performances ever seen on the show, but Banana Split as well.

Season 7

• Despite suffering an unexpected choking fit midway through her initial performance, Firefly still returns to the stage and finishes what she started with a beautiful rendition of "Ain't Nobody." She more than earned that standing ovation.
• Guest judge Eric Stonestreet managing to catch onto Ram being Joe Buck simply by realizing they know each other and narrowing it down from that.
• In spite of all the mocking he got that night for his guesses, Ken manages to correctly guess that Christie Brinkley was Lemur, showing up just about everyone.
• Guest panelist Nicole Byer correctly guessing the Hydra's identity as magician duo Penn & Teller just by going off a few clues in their package, and also being able to recognize Penn's signature raspy voice.
• With Prince advancing to the finals, Team Good has completely swept the contest!
• While she falls just short of winning, Ringmaster, unmasked as Hayley Orrantia, managed to get a victory by not having a single judge guess her correctly.

Season 8

• The first unmasking really sets the stage for the star power seen in this season—and befitting of the season's theme, they're pure royalty: Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner!
  • Bonus points for being on the show at the ripe old age of 91. This also means that he's the oldest contestant ever on the show.
• Even after he gets unmasked, Eric Idle proves that he can still sing one song well. He sings, for his encore—what else?—"Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life".
• How does Donny Osmond mark his grand return to the show? Via a performance of not only his most memorable performance as the Peacock ("The Greatest Show"), but also tosses in "Viva Las Vegas". Building on this, he also ends up being the only judge to nail Pi-Rat as Jeff Dunham.
• The Harp's utterly jaw-dropping performance of "I Have Nothing", proving herself to be the frontrunner (and eventual winner) of the season. Her performance is so breathtaking, it brings Donny Osmond to his knees.
• While he is the first one cut, Maize impresses Andrew Lloyd Webber with his singing, to the point where he openly wants him to appear in one of his own performances.
• The entire panel (even non-singers Ken and Jenny) opening Muppet Night with a rendition of "Rainbow Connection" with the contestant formerly known as Snail himself, Kermit the Frog. This also allows Ken to show off his singing skills properly for the first time on the show (all the previous times he sung were clearly for comedic effect).
• The Lambs managing to become the first singers to successfully dethrone a reigning champion by managing to defeat Robo Girl. They then become the first group singers to make it to the finals.
• Snowstorm, unmasked as Nikki Glaser, becoming the highest placing non-singer in the series' history after placing third, beating Rhino's 5 season long record.
• While the Lambs were unable to defeat the Harp in the finals, they were still able to become the highest-ranked group on the show thus far, scoring second place.

Season 9

• This season marks the debut of the Ding Dong Keep It On Bell, which can be used by the panel to sing one singer in each group and allow them to stay in the competition. The bell's used on Medusa, Gargoyle, and Mantis, allowing them to be spared from a premature unmasking.
• If William Shatner last season set the bar high in terms of who could be on the show, then this season manages to somehow top that in the form of probably the single biggest Living Legend in all of entertainment: Dick Van Dyke!
  • For bonus points, Dick manages to beat out Shatner's record of being the oldest contestant on the show, and at 97 years old, he can still sing and dance along to "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"!
• Ken successfully managing to nail the Rock Lobster as Howie Mandel and not have the crowd boo him for it, meaning that they actually believed it.
• While she doesn't advance, give Debbie Gibson some credit—she only had 24 hours to get to LA (after grieving her deceased mother, no less) and get ready to appear on stage and she completely crushed it, leading to a close battle with Medusa.
• Jim Lee drawing an entire piece of art just for one clue for Squirrel.
• Even though she didn't make it past her sole episode, the fact that Alexa Bliss managed to show she had one heck of a singing voice while also overcoming her stage fright is both this and heartwarming.
• Holly Robinson Peete successfully managing to fool the panel to the point where not even Nick realizes it's her, even though she knows them all personally.
• After being unmasked as the Doll, Dee Snider manages to lead everyone in a hearty performance of "We're Not Gonna Take It".
• Medusa managing to return to beat out Gargoyle and Mantis to return to the competition. And the singer she's most excited to face again? California Roll, specifically for a rematch.
• Much like Bushranger from the Australian version, Medusa managed to split the fanbase over whether or not she was Bishop Briggs or Fergie (she was revealed to be the former).

Season 10

• How do you hype up the series' tenth season? By having Demi Lovato show up for a preview performance. She's not even competing! The show got a massive star and used her purely for hype.
  • Best of all, three out of the judges correctly guess her (with the outlier, of course, being Ken)!
• The premiere kicked off with a successful guess from Ken, who correctly assumed that the Rubber Ducky was Anthony Anderson—the second time in the show's history where he correctly guessed the first unmasking of the season (after Season 6's Octopus).
  • With his reveal, Rubber Ducky also made history as the first contestant who was on the show in the past as a guest panelist—now, people like Gordon Ramsay, Darius Rucker, will.i.am, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and (of course) Joel McHale and Jamie Foxx competing on the show doesn't seem that far-fetched anymore.
• Much like Bull back in season 6, Gazelle has already such an impression on the judges that Jenny declares they'll be seeing her in the finals.
• With Diver getting unmasked as Tom Sandoval, Ken has gotten two correct guesses in a row, certainly making up for the fumble of failing to get Demi Lovato during the preview. He would later manage a third correct guess by correctly guessing Royal Hen was Billie Jean King.
• Ken's hot streak continues during the Group A finals, as although he didn't guess anyone correctly, he did use the only opportunity to toll the Ding Dong Keep It On Bell to save Gazelle from unmasking, sending her straight to the finale alongside Cow.
• Sea Queen's unmasking included something that was once thought to be considered impossible: for the first time in the US show's history, all four panelists were correctly unanimous in their final guess, as they all agreed that Sea Queen was Macy Gray.
  • This puts Ken's final correct guess tally this season at 4, the highest he's ever gotten thus far.
• Ne-Yo may have fallen just short of the Golden Mask when he was the UK's Badger, but here, he finally manages to claim the victory, while also being the first male winner in five seasons.

Season 11

• Yet again, we have another singer already predicted to hit the finals, with Jenny declaring that Goldfish is finale bound with her intense vocals.
• While he only lasted one episode, Spaghetti & Meatballs gave a surprisingly good showing which is made even more amazing when it's revealed he's not even a trained singer. Who knew Joe from MasterChef had those kinds of pipes?
• The Smackdown song from TV Theme Song Night? "Who Are You?", the theme of the show!