Warning! The following contains spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 5 premiere. Read at your own risk!
The Masked Singer is officially in Season 5, and if viewers thought that meant the show was going to get tired and predictable, they clearly underestimated the Fox series. I'll admit I thought the singing competition had run out of ways to surprise me given the shocking reveals of the past, but my jaw dropped yet again in the best way after The Snail was eliminated.
As much as I loved the reveal I'll admit I was sad to see Snail go given the intricacy of the costume, though I thought the top hat was a cheap way of letting the contestant stand during their performances. It turned out the contestant may not have been standing at all, as the top hat came off and out popped none other than Muppet star Kermit The Frog.
Kermit's unmasking as The Snail was absolutely insane in the best way possible, and perhaps confirmation that the best days of The Masked Singer are still to come. Panelists Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong, Nicole Scherzinger, and temporary host Niecy Nash all seemed thrilled to see Kermit, and maybe even a little sad to see him go.
While I was disappointed, The Snail's elimination was far from a surprise. Kermit's performance of Hall and Oates' "You Make My Dreams Come True" already had me thinking he would be in Group A's bottom performers of the night. In the end, one could really only argue The Raccoon had a worse performance, but he had enough charisma to win some sympathy votes for the audience. I can't imagine Raccoon beat out Robopine, Russian Dolls, or Seashell on votes, so it'll be a rough road ahead for him going forward.
Contestants aside, The Masked Singer really did up the entertainment ante all around with the addition of Cluedle Doo. I loved the idea of a clue master dropping additional hints throughout the season, especially when they also have a secret identity audiences have to guess. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any of the Season 5 wildcards in the episode, but the prospect of even more mystery contestants will be reason enough for me to come back week after week.
Overall, I loved the direction that Season 5 of The Masked Singer is headed. The costumes are as good as they've ever been, the stage looked as vibrant as ever, and there's maybe a chance viewers make it a few weeks into the season before sleuthing out each and every competitor. I mean, Fox hasn't figured out a way to prevent that yet, but I'm optimistic it could happen this season.
The Masked Singer airs on Fox Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET. Be sure to check in with CinemaBlend throughout the season for guesses on who each mystery competitor may be and all the controversy that may come when a fan favorite is voted off.
