The Wildest, Most Shocking Masked Singer Season Yet: An In-Depth Look at Season 6

Just when you thought The Masked Singer couldn’t get any weirder or more delightfully bizarre, season 6 of the massive hit reality competition took things to astronomical new heights of crazy. From start to finish, this latest mind-bending run proved to be the biggest, most shocking, and simply banana pants season in Masked Singer history.

From the very first episode, it was clear the producers were swinging for the fences with one of their most eclectic and unbelievable lineups of masked celebrity performers yet. Alongside the usual assortment of vibrant, cartoonish character costumes were some real head-scratchers destined to become all-time legendary entries in the Masked Singer pantheon.

For instance, the world was left positively stupefied by the premiere of The Hamster, a costume depicting an actual human-sized hamster that took “pants on the ground” to viscerally disturbing new levels. Never before had the panel of celebrity judges looked more shaken or covered their eyes in simultaneous horror as the Hamster took the stage.

“I cannot un-see that,” panelist Ken Jeong proclaimed after the performance, speaking for millions of traumatized viewers at home. Unsurprisingly, The Hamster was eliminated quickly, its masked celeb’s identity forever remaining a mystery to protect their privacy.

Going in a completely different direction was The Bride, a costume depicting a towering figure in a vintage wedding dress with a bandaged face reminiscent of the Invisible Man or classic movie monster. The visual was as striking as it was rather unsettling. Upon their debut singing a haunting rendition of “Crazy in Love,” the panel was left stunned into a rare silence.

“That was…certainly unforgettable,” host Nick Cannon finally remarked, clearly at a loss for words. While polarizing, The Bride’s avant-garde vocals and commitment to character kept them in the competition for several weeks.

Another season 6 standout that got social media buzzing immediately was the kooky, club-footed Baby Doll. Clad in an old-fashioned baby dress and eerie wooden mask reminiscent of Japanese Bunraku puppetry, Baby Doll dazzled judges and audiences alike with its vaudevillian showmanship and rich baritone vocals.

Panelist Jenny McCarthy spoke for many viewers, breathlessly declaring “This is the trippiest thing I have ever witnessed in my entire life!” The strange-yet-strangely-talented Baby Doll ultimately made it all the way to the finale, before being revealed as…well, we’ll get to those unmaskings later.

Rounding out some of the most memorable and deliriously bonkers characters were The Jester, Cupcake, Pony, and The Skunk, just to name a few. Each is visually captivating and as bizarre as the last. Even the more conventional costumes like Octopus and Pufferfish felt somehow amplified and downright hallucinogenic this season.

From the very first episodes, it was glaringly apparent the celebs hidden underneath those outlandish masks brought their absolute A-games this season. The vocals were uniformly powerful and sometimes shockingly great from top to bottom. On any given week, the competition showcased eclectic performances displaying Broadway-level showmanship, technical precision, dynamic stage presence, and vocal ranges for the ages.

In that sense, season 6 represented the series firing on all cylinders and finally achieving its full bonkers potential as big-time celebrities threw caution to the wind and gave the bonkers concept 100% commitment. There was no phoning it in here, no half-measures. The singers were soon deemed to be some of the most elite talent the show had ever featured.

This likely contributed to the panel having an outrageously difficult time guessing the singers’ secret identities throughout the season, even compared to previous runs. Week after week, everyone from Robin Thicke and Nicole Scherzinger to McCarthy and Jeong was left completely stumped and dumbfounded after performances. It became something of a running gag at a certain point, with the panelists often guessing not just dead wrong, but gaggingly off-base.

“This season is like the Design-a-Celeb level of Masked Singer on expert mode,” Jeong remarked at one point. “I can barely even keep up!”

And while the panel may have struggled, the same cannot be said of the raucous Masked Singer fans. Due to the crystal clear vocal talents on display, along with all manner of conspiracy theory video breakdowns going viral online, some of the stellar singers’ secret identities were spilled (if not outright spoiled) well before their highly anticipated unmaskings.

Even the studio audiences seem to spoil the surprises for themselves in real-time, screaming out guesses and giveaways before the official reveals. It definitely added an extra layer of “anything can happen” edge-of-your-seat excitement.

An avalanche of early spoilers swirled around The Queen of Hearts for weeks, suggesting the dazzling vocalist was jewel chanteuse and former American Idol winner Jeanine Mason, long before viewers saw her sweet face. Dog the Bounty Hunter’s Brazilian singer wife Francie Frane was also outed early on as The Skunk. And fans were utterly losing it speculating over whether The Jester was a chart-topping pop superstar.

The spoils kept on coming week after week. Social media sleuths were convinced Baby Doll was drag superstar and singer Ava Max. Meanwhile, Reddit chatter swirled that The Pony had to be acting icon Paige O’Hara (the original voice of Belle in Beauty and the Beast). The Prince was even theorized to be Latin heartthrob Chayanne based on vocal cues.

With so much buzz and speculation swirling around the show each week, the eventual unmasking episodes were nothing short of seismic, delivering reveals that absolutely shattered the earth with their game-changing bombshell nature. This was a must-see, get-a-text-from-your-mom-about-it kind of happening event TV.

When The Queen of Hearts was revealed to be…indie rocker Elle King?! Social media effectively combusted. The Jester being Hollywood icon Michael Bolton?! People’s minds were broken into dozens of tiny pieces. That incredible vocal slayage we all witnessed from The Pufferfish being delivered by R&B vocal queen Toni Braxton?!?! Forget it, America was collectively broken beyond repair.

The parade of heavy hitter reveals didn’t let up, with each week raising the bar to ludicrous new heights and superseding the last. Puerto Rican reggaeton legend Paulina Rubio as The Skunk? Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross as Baby Doll?! Add it all up and The Masked Singer delivered possibly the greatest collection of shockingly epic unmasked singers in any reality competition history.

Of course, none of those delivers compared to the absolute mayhem of the season 6 finale, where the final 3 unmasked celebs were shown to be a bonkers combination of TV icon/gospel sensation Darlene Love as The Scorpion, classic standup comedy legend Taylor Dayne as the Salt Lake Pussypat and beloved R&B icon Patti LaBelle as The Pony. Millions around the world sat slack-jawed as the unthinkable trifecta of performers was revealed.

By that point, everyone was running on fumes and the show had emptied its bag of Holy S&*$ reveals and pure insanity. We may never see a season more jaw-droppingly perfect and generally banana pants than the gloriously unhinged mayhem of The Masked Singer season 6. We are far from worthy of its chaotic spirit.

When all was said and done, it proved to be a ludicrous but satisfying conclusion to a delightfully schizophrenic season that reset the bar for what we expect when celebrities truly lean into the show’s gloriously silly premise. The surreal commitment performance art levels the level of exquisite musicality and top-level surprise factor will be hard if not impossible to ever top.

We’re still recovering, but bravo Masked Singer season 6. You left audiences simultaneously scratching their heads and bowing down in disbelieving applause. And you gave the internet more than enough meme fuel to get us through to the next mind-blowing season. Our wigs are still scattered to the wind and we’re eternally grateful for it.