The fifth season of the American television series The Masked Singer premiered on Fox on March 10, 2021, and concluded on May 26, 2021. The season was won by singer Nick Lachey as "Piglet", with singer JoJo finishing second as "Black Swan", and rapper Wiz Khalifa placing third as "Chameleon".
Panelists and hosts
Singer-songwriter Robin Thicke, television and radio personality Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, actor and comedian Ken Jeong, and recording artist Nicole Scherzinger all returned for their fifth season as panelists. The panelists once again competed for "The Golden Ear", with Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg winning for the second time. Regular host Nick Cannon tested positive for COVID-19 a few days before production was set to begin in February 2021; consequently, Niecy Nash guest hosted the first five episodes. Cannon returned after competing as "the Bulldog" in the fifth episode.
Guest panelists included Joel McHale in the third episode, Rita Wilson in the seventh episode, Chrissy Metz in the eighth episode, Rob Riggle in the ninth episode, Darius Rucker in the tenth episode, and season four winner LeAnn Rimes in the eleventh episode.
Contestants The season began with two groups of five, Group A and Group B. In a new twist, four wild card contestants entered the competition beginning with the third episode, replacing previously eliminated contestants. The contestants among the season have a combined, "26 Grammy nominations, nine multi-platinum singles, four Oscar nominations, three Super Bowl appearances, six gold medals and two world records among them". In addition, the opening scene for the season premiere revealed that cast has, "a combined net worth over $600 million, eight marriages, 25 gold and platinum records, 459 tattoos, over 55 million records sold, over 198 million followers, three Grammy wins, three Emmy nominations, one Oscar win, nine divorces, and 146 toes."
This season featured a non-contestant masked character called "Cluedle-Doo". Over the course of 10 episodes, Cluedle-Doo periodically disrupted the broadcast to provide additional clues to the audience from his secret studio, teasing the host and panelists, while challenging the audience to discover who he was. In the semi-final episode, he appeared in person to perform "Return of the Mack" by Mark Morrison for the panel, then challenged them to guess his identity. After the panelists made their guesses who he was, none of which was correct, he unmasked himself as singer Donnie Wahlberg, panelist Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg's husband, shocking McCarthy Wahlberg, who did not recognize his voice.
Kermit the Frog ("Snail") is the first fictional character to have competed on the American version of The Masked Singer and "Russian Dolls" (Hanson) are the second costume to feature more than one person (the first being Clint and Lisa Black's "Snow Owls" costume from the previous season) and the first costume to feature a group of different celebrities.
+ Results Stage name Celebrity Occupation(s) Episodes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 Group A Group B A B A Piglet Nick Lachey Singer SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE WINNER Black Swan JoJo Singer SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE RUNNER-UP Chameleon Wiz Khalifa Rapper SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE THIRD Yeti (WC) Omarion Singer SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE OUT Russian Dolls Hanson Band SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE OUT Robopine Tyrese Gibson Actor/singer SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE OUT Seashell Tamera Mowry-Housley Actor/TV host SAFE SAFE SAFE OUT Crab (WC) Bobby Brown Singer SAFE SAFE OUT Orca (WC) Mark McGrath Singer SAFE OUT Bulldog (WC) Nick Cannon Actor/TV host OUT Grandpa Monster Logan Paul Internet personality SAFE OUT Raccoon Danny Trejo Actor SAFE OUT PhoenixCaitlyn JennerDecathlete/TV Personality OUT Snail Kermit the Frog Muppet OUT
(WC) This masked singer is a wild card contestant.
Episodes Week 1 (March 10) +Performances on the first episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Russian Dolls "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson SAFE 2 Snail "You Make My Dreams (Come True)" by Hall & Oates Kermit the Frog OUT 3 Seashell "Listen to Your Heart" by Roxette SAFE 4 Raccoon "Wild Thing" by The Troggs SAFE 5 Robopine "Never Too Much" by Luther Vandross SAFE
Week 2 (March 17) +Performances on the second episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Black Swan "Barracuda" by Heart SAFE 2 Grandpa Monster "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...)" by Lou Bega SAFE 3 Chameleon "Ride wit Me" by Nelly SAFE 4 Phoenix "TiK ToK" by Kesha Caitlyn Jenner OUT 5 Piglet"Speechless" by Dan + Shay SAFE
Week 3 (March 24) +Performances on the third episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Russian Dolls "Wonder" by Shawn Mendes SAFE 2 Raccoon "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash Danny Trejo OUT 3 Robopine "All of Me" by John Legend SAFE 4 Seashell "Confident" by Demi Lovato SAFE Wild card Orca "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister SAFE
Week 4 (March 31) +Performances on the fourth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Grandpa Monster "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett Logan Paul OUT 2 Piglet "Good to Be Alive (Hallelujah)" by Andy Grammer SAFE 3 Black Swan "In My Blood" by Shawn Mendes SAFE 4 Chameleon "21 Questions" by 50 Cent feat. Nate Dogg SAFE Wild card Crab "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers SAFE
Week 5 (April 7) +Performances on the fifth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Black Swan "How Will I Know" by Whitney Houston SAFE 2 Piglet "7 Years" by Lukas Graham SAFE 3 Crab "Give It to Me Baby" by Rick James SAFE 4 Chameleon "Hip Hop" by Dead Prez SAFE Wild card Bulldog "Candy Girl" by New Edition Nick Cannon OUT
Week 6 (April 14) +Performances on the sixth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Russian Dolls "Want to Want Me" by Jason Derulo SAFE 2 Robopine "Killing Me Softly" by Roberta Flack SAFE 3 Seashell "Tell Me Something Good" by Rufus feat. Chaka Khan SAFE 4 Orca "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison Mark McGrath OUT Wild card Yeti "If It Isn't Love" by New Edition SAFE
Week 7 (April 21) +Performances on the seventh episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Piglet "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters SAFE 2 Robopine "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye SAFE 3 Chameleon "Regulate" by Warren G feat. Nate Dogg SAFE 4 Yeti "Lonely" by Justin Bieber and Benny Blanco SAFE 5 Russian Dolls "24K Magic" by Bruno Mars SAFE 6 Crab "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins Bobby Brown OUT 7 Seashell "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany Tamera Mowry-Housley OUT 8 Black Swan "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon SAFE
Week 8 (May 5) +Performances on the eighth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Yeti "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock SAFE 2 Robopine "Water Runs Dry" by Boyz II Men Tyrese Gibson OUT 3 Piglet "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" by Phil Collins SAFE 4 Black Swan "Do I Do" by Stevie Wonder SAFE 5 Russian Dolls "Shallow" by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga SAFE 6 Chameleon "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" by Busta Rhymes SAFE
Week 9 (May 12) +Performances on the ninth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Russian Dolls "I'm Still Standing" by Elton John Hanson OUT 2 Black Swan "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran SAFE 3 Piglet "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder SAFE 4 Yeti "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts SAFE 5 Chameleon "Drop It Like It's Hot" by Snoop Dogg ft. Pharrell Williams SAFE
Week 10 (May 19) Performance by Cluedle-Doo (Donnie Walhberg): "Return of the Mack" by Mark Morrison +Performances on the tenth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Yeti "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang Omarion OUT 2 Black Swan "Tequila" by Dan + Shay SAFE 3 Chameleon "Oh Boy" by Cam'ron feat. Juelz Santana SAFE 4 Piglet "Bruises" by Lewis Capaldi SAFE
Week 11 (May 26) – Finale Group performance: "How Do I Live" by LeAnn Rimes +Performances on the eleventh episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Chameleon "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio feat. L.V. Wiz Khalifa THIRD PLACE 2 Black Swan "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" by Michael Bolton JoJo RUNNER-UP 3 Piglet "Faithfully" by Journey Nick Lachey WINNER
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