By: Hannah Grynberg
*Season 4 Spoiler Alerts Ahead*
“Masked Singer” fans were shocked on Wednesday, September 30th, after a contestant eliminated himself for the first time in the history of a show. Hosted by Nick Cannon, “The Masked Singer” is a reality competition show starring judges Dr. Ken Jeong, Robin Thicke, Nicole Scherzinger, and Jenny McCarthy. In each episode, a group of celebrities (singers or not) hidden in outrageous costumes each perform a song for the judges. The judges then try to guess who each singer’s identity is. At the end of the episode, the audience votes to see which star is eliminated. The eliminated singer then unveils their identity as the audience and judge panel chant “take it off!” One singer remains at the end of each season to take home the golden mask.
Unfortunately for the second episode of the show’s fourth season, a celebrity contestant decided to change these rules. “The Gremlin” later revealed to be sixty-eight-year-old actor Mickey Rourke performed unenthusiastically to the song “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King. Hitting off-key notes and barely moving around the stage. Rourke was clothed in a purple and gray fuzzy costume, including his mask. The costume was perfect for Antarctica weather, not a stage. As soon as the judges tried to guess his identity after the performance, with Jenny correctly guessing Rourke, he decided he could not take the costume anymore. Stating “Dammit, it’s hot. I’m taking it off.”
The judges and Nick Cannon had their mouths dropped wide open as Rourke began to take his mask off. They were all trying to convince him not to do so and wait until the eliminations. Rourke ignored all of them and continued taking his mask off, now with Nick Cannon assisting him and announcing the other singer’s safe. Instead of waiting until the ending of the show onstage, Rourke just walked off after revealing his identity. He showed obvious signs that he was unhappy participating in the show and could not take it anymore.
Fans were outraged by the twist, bashing Rourke on social media. Many were questioning why Rourke came on the show in the first place if he was just going to self-eliminate himself. This is because celebrities are asked if they want to do the show before they go on it. Some were wishing Rourke had waited until after the vote so that worse contestant “Whatchamacallit” would get eliminated. Others commenting on his out-of-norm actions, saying that he must have been drunk or high during filming. Rourke’s self-reveal was one of the most shocking twists yet on a reality competition show, even more than Little Wayne revealed to be “The Robot” in season 3. “The Gremlin” will forever be hated by fans for not following the rules of the show.
Source: https://ew.com/tv/recaps/masked-singer-season-4-episode-2/
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Hey Hannah! First of all I love The Masked Singer so much. It is very entertaining, and I binge watched a lot of it back in march when quarantine first started. I stopped watching for some reason, but thanks to your post I have been reminded of it. That is so funny to me that celebrity, Mickey Rourke revealed himself unprompted. I find there to be no reason people should be mad at it. It is against the intended rules, but truly who cares. I think it is so harmless and comical, and it gave me a laugh just reading about it.
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