During this season of The Masked Singer, the guesses surrounding Robopine were all over the place. This was due to the strange clues the contestant gave to the audience and the show's judges. Everything from his age to his background kept people guessing. Unfortunately, Robopine’s guessing game ended when he was umasked as singer-actor Tyrese Gibson. After his elimination, Gibson discussed his wild strategy for hiding his identity.
During his Masked Singer tenure, Tyrese Gibson did everything possible to throw people off the trail. Until his unmasking, the only concrete information was that he was a male R&B singer. But that alone ran deep as seen in the judges’ guesses throughout the season. So Gibson’s unconventional clues worked, and the singer recently told People about his unique strategy:
I was like, if you guys put too much stuff out there that's actually tied into my life, people are going to figure it out. So, the 60-year-old thing and Costa Rica, grandchildren was my way of throwing people off. If you start giving clues and you think my fans and supporters ain't going to know it's me, you're going to be sadly mistaken because they know everything.
Tyrese Gibson’s identity-hiding strategy was genius. As Masked Singer judge Ken Jeong pointed out, the actor-singer played the game better than anyone else this season. Mixing some untruths with obscure real-life facts played out perfectly for him. As Gibson stated, his fanbase knew pretty much every detail of his life after reading his two best-selling books. His strategy made for an exciting run from week to week. Having been a viewer before participating in the show, the multihyphenate entertainer knew he needed more than a golden voice to carry him through the competition. At the end of the day, he had one of the best strategies I’ve seen over five seasons.
Unfortunately, Tyrese Gibson’s last clue package finally gave away his identity. The entertainer admitted to not wanting to include his late Fast and Furious co-star Paul Walker on The Masked Singer. Gibson knew including his late friend would give him away immediately, but not paying tribute to Paul Walker would’ve been a missed opportunity.
But in the end, it wasn’t the Paul Walker clue but Tyrese Gibson’s sultry, soulful voice that gave away his identity. Like previous contestants Bobby Brown and Tamera Mowry-Housley, his voice harkened back to a different era of music.
While Tyrese Gibson did pose a threat, he was a longshot for the Final 3, given the incredible lineup of contestants such as Black Swan and Yeti. But it was nice to see Gibson grace the public with his voice once more. There’s still some major talent left in the competition, so check out The Masked Singer Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.
