Warning! The following contains spoilers for The Masked Singer's Season 11 episode "Billy Joel Night." Read at your own risk!
The Masked Singer has debuted another one of its fun theme nights, this one featuring the music of award-winning singer and songwriter Billy Joel. Just when I thought the show was on the right path after rightfully eliminating its worst singer, Season 11 of the Fox series might have its first controversy.
In what is a credit to Billy Joel's song catalog, there wasn't a bad song performance of the night. Regardless, two people had to enter the Smackdown round, and we learned Spaghetti and Meatballs was set to go against Lizard. The latter ended up winning the showdown, but I'm calling shenanigans and going on the record to say MasterChef judge Joe Bastianich didn't deserve to go home.
Let's revisit how the Smackdown played out and why I think the judge from one of Gordon Ramsay's best TV shows didn't deserve the boot.
The Masked Singer's Smackdown Round Went Differently Than Past Seasons
The Masked Singer's Smackdown round was centered on a performance of "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," though it was unlike what we've seen in the past. Spaghetti, who we now know as Joe Bastianich, gave more of a karaoke performance of the best Billy Joel impersonation we heard of the episode. He didn't sing it as well as Joel did, of course, but if I was watching him in a bar on a Friday night, I'd say, "That spaghetti costume is weird, but he's pretty talented."
When it was time for Lizard to go, he did something different. He started off singing "Movin' Out," but midway through, he essentially abandoned the song and just started performing vocal runs. It was a bold gamble, but ultimately one that paid off as the crowd was chanting his name and ended up advancing him through over Spaghetti and Meatballs.
Should The Theme Night Factor Into The Audience's Vote?
I'm not sure this will go down as one of The Masked Singer's most shocking, or even the most crushing elimination, considering we've seen Grammy winners sent home over non-singers. I will say, though, that I feel the audience got this vote wrong, and I'm kind of upset about a singer advancing despite being the objectively worst performer of Billy Joel's songs.
I think that the theme night should absolutely factor in the decision of voting in The Masked Singer's Smackdown, and that Joe Bastianich should've gotten to advance. Why are we still trusting the people who were deemed so nonessential they were faked in episodes during the pandemic to make decisions on who goes forward in the competition?
Controversial elimination aside, The Masked Singer Season 11 is killing it, and that's thanks to big celebrity guests and new panelist Rita Ora. I don't think this latest elimination set the season on the wrong path yet, but I hope to hear a frontrunner soon because I'm not sure I have a firm grasp on who I think will win this season. Perhaps the Wild Card competitors will give us a better idea of that.
The Masked Singer airs on Fox on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET, and those with a Hulu subscription can watch it on streaming. Tune in to see the long-running Fox competition ahead of next week, where the contestants will sing their favorite TV themes.
