(Warning: This post contains major spoilers from Wednesday’s episode of “The Masked Singer.”)
By the end of tonight’s episode of “The Masked Singer,” almost every panelist — with the exception of the ever-stubborn Ken Jeong — had correctly guessed the identity of The Mouse contestant as legendary singer Dionne Warwick before she was revealed and eliminated.
Heck, even guest judge Gabriel Iglesias knew that the “I Say a Little Prayer” songstress was the one hiding inside the super cute rodent costume due to her “undeniable voice,” as Nicole Scherzinger put it.
Yeah, Warwick told TheWrap it was pretty much impossible to conceal her signature tone — so she didn’t even try.
“There’s no way to disguise my voice, unfortunately — or fortunately,” she said, laughing.
If she could do it over again, the Grammy winner says she’d have attempted to hide it a bit, but truly doesn’t know what she’d have done differently to pull that off.
“The only thing would be to try to disguise my vocals, but there is no way in the world I could ever think of disguising them,” Warwick said. “I don’t know how to do that.”
Warwick made it to Wednesday’s Group B playoffs but lost to Banana, Taco, Kitty and Frog — meaning she only got through that lineup’s Round 1.
But she’s hardly the first professional singer to be eliminated just a few episodes into the season, as fellow Grammy Award winners Lil Wayne and Chaka Khan were both booted from Group A. And let’s not forget that Season 2 saw the early dismissals of legends Seal and Patti LaBelle.
When we asked Warwick why she thinks acclaimed singers keep dropping like flies on “The Masked Singer,” she told us she isn’t really sure. But she does think it makes sense you can identify them so easily before they’ve been unmasked.
“I guess, you know, it would be that they created an aura around who we are, and our voices are our identity,” she said. “So it’s kind of hard not to know who we are when people are accustomed to hearing you.”
OK, but what’s her opinion on those incorrect guesses, like Jeong’s persistent theory that she was Tina Turner?
“It’s wonderful to be thought of among that group of wonderful voices. It’s quite a compliment,” Warwick said.
“The Masked Singer” airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Fox.