Warning! The following contains spoilers from The Masked Singer Season 12's "Soundtrack Of My Life" episode. Stream it with a Hulu subscription and read at your own risk!
The Masked Singer's Group A finals were super competitive, and the night ended with not one but two contestants being unmasked. Our prediction about Ship being musician Paula Cole was spot on, but Woodpecker was actress Marsai Martin rather than Willow Smith. While we might've been off the mark on guessing, Martin told CinemaBlend she was convinced that everyone, including host Nick Cannon, would figure out her identity immediately.
I had an excellent opportunity to speak to Martin ahead of the airing, and I asked if she was worried about Cannon figuring out who she was since she guest-starred on Wild 'n Out with him years ago. The actress revealed her relationship with Nick Cannon runs deeper than that, and she felt like he and others who knew her well would sus out who she was for one specific reason:
It's so funny because I feel like he knew it was me. I think out of everybody he knew, it was me for sure because I've known Nick for so long. Especially when we started singing in rehearsals, my parents and I would talk about it. I think people who actually truly know who I am and have been around me know that my talking voice is the same as my singing voice. So people are gonna know, and Nick is one of those people that has heard me too many times to not know who I am. So, yes. I think when you see his reaction to like the multiple performances, I definitely had a feeling that he knew who I was because of the simple fact that we homies.
Sure, Black-ish ended with that emotional scene a couple of years ago, but Marsai Martin has stayed busy in Hollywood. She became one of the youngest executive producers in the industry and has slowly shed her persona as a child actress to an adult with a promising career in media. Lots of people know her, including Nick Cannon, and as she mentioned, she felt like he was pretty convinced of her identity long before she was unmasked.
Sure enough, Marsai Martin confirmed to CinemaBlend that as soon as her first performance on the show happened, friends and family members were reaching out to her. Martin doesn't spend a lot of time online, but she had heard through relatives that people had guessed her identity, which made them suspicious she was secretly the Woodpecker. Martin said she kept it secret from extended family members during the process, though it doesn't seem they'll be shocked when they finally see the unmasking.
Ship and Woodpecker's departure left Buffalos as the winner of Group A, and they'll advance to the next stage of the competition. I had Ship as my front-runner to advance, so I was shocked to see the trio outlast them. I would love to see them win it all, but with so many competitors we haven't seen yet, I'm not making any bold predictions about the winner. I do think their unmasking will be one of the more shocking reveals of The Masked Singer because I'm stumped on who they could be.
The Masked Singer airs on Fox on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET. As we push through what's left of the 2024 TV schedule, look at everything coming up in the months ahead and prepare for more fantastic fall programming.
