Fox’s new Nick Cannon-hosted celebrity singing game show, “The Masked Singer,” premiered (to huge Nielsen numbers) Wednesday, revealing at the end of its very first episode that the identity of one of its famous contestants — who performed disguised from head to toe in an elaborate hip-hop-style hippo costume — was none other than NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown.
However, we still don’t know the identities of Peacock, Deer, Lion, Monster and Unicorn, the contestants who wowed panelists Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger, Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke and the studio audience enough to move on to next week’s competition.
Or at least we don’t officially know who they are, as some viewers are already taking to Twitter to try to decipher the clues about each masked famous person, which were given to them during last night’s show, a series based on the South Korean format created by Mun Hwa Broadcasting Corp.
The leading theory for Peacock appears to be Donny Osmond:
It is Donny Osmond # The Masked Singer # peacock mask
— Jeannine Johnson (@SweetJeanninee) January 3, 2019
#TheMaskedSinger in the #peacockmask has to be Donny Osmond!!
— Candy Olivares (@Candypo) January 3, 2019
The overwhelming guess on Monster’s identity is T-Pain:
We've got some monstrous clues for you! ? Be sure to tweet #TheMaskedSinger + #MonsterMask and send us your guesses. pic.twitter.com/kRTXpYq6oB
— The Masked Singer (@MaskedSingerFOX) January 3, 2019
It's T-Pain!!!
— Channel Surfing Pod (@ChannelSurfPod) January 3, 2019
THATS T-Pain HANDS DOWN‼️
— wear ya mask? (@wjustin950) January 3, 2019
A decent number of viewers think Unicorn is Tori Spelling:
Better believe we've got clues for you! ? Don't forget to tweet #TheMaskedSinger + #UnicornMask and your guesses. pic.twitter.com/yaNnVnJp8j
— The Masked Singer (@MaskedSingerFOX) January 3, 2019
Tori Spelling
— Lisa Miller (@LisaMtoU) January 3, 2019
Fans were torn over Deer, with a pretty even split between the leading guesses of Terry Bradshaw or Peyton Manning:
Terry Bradshaw, he is 6'3" and he has a Quarter Horse Farm
— Nadene Lange (@nlange44) January 3, 2019
Peyton Manning
— Mistress Lila Lane (@LilaMistress) January 3, 2019
Terry Bradshaw.
— Nicholas_Sye (@NicholasSye1) January 3, 2019
#DeerMask Hahaha Payton Manning! He was a COLT AND A BRONCO !
— Dede ❤️❤️ (@DedeFurniss) January 3, 2019
By far, the character that seems to be stumping everyone the most was Lion, who viewers think might be a Kardashian, Rumer Willis or Paris Jackson:
Rumer Willis
5' 6"
A lot of women in her family
Is Hollywood royalty
Was on Empire (lions)
Has a soulful voice and kind of sounds like Amy Winehouse— E.R. Mora (@ElisaMora77) January 3, 2019
https://twitter.com/knicksseahawks/status/1080657394819100672
If a Kardashian is considered royalty… Houston we have a problem
— Robin (@fitzrob6991) January 3, 2019
#LionMask it's gotta be a Kardasian
— Team Brackney (@TeamBrackney) January 3, 2019
And things will only get trickier as the season goes on, as there will be more masked singers joining the party in the weeks to come, with a total of 12 celebrities competing.
According to Fox, between all of the celebrity competitors on “The Masked Singer,” they’ve amassed 65 Grammy nominations, 16 multi-platinum albums, 16 Emmy nominations, nine Broadway shows, four stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and four Super Bowl titles.
“The Masked Singer” airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Fox.