Warning! The following contains spoilers for The Masked Singer’s “Group B Semi-Final.” Read at your own risk!
The Masked Singer sent home another two competitors in its Group B semi-final, though one of the two almost got the boot sooner. The Caterpillar, who the show revealed to be Queer Eye design guy Bobby Berk, was nearly sent home much earlier (he was eliminated alongside the Mallard, a.k.a. Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson) in the night when panelist Jenny McCarthy convinced herself he was actor Jake Gyllenhaal. McCarthy pressed the Take It Off Buzzer and, much like when Ken Jeong pressed the week prior, nothing happened. With the feature going 0-2 in its inaugural season, I think it’s time to put this gimmick out to pasture ahead of Season 7.
Fox’s singing competition introduces a lot of new gimmicks from season to season, and some are better than others. With that said, I never understood the appeal of the Take It Off Buzzer, as it only really existed to the benefit of the panelists. That's not to say shows should not try to make the game more fun for them, but also, is the audience really that invested in who wins the Golden Ear trophy?
As The Masked Singer stated, panelists could only hit the buzzer once for each group if they were absolutely sure on the identity of a contestant. If correct, they’d get 2 points towards their Golden Ear trophy, but if wrong, they’d receive a punishment. In theory, it sounded great, but I feel this gimmick was doomed from the start to fall flat in execution.
The Masked Singer is about guessing the identities of celebrities behind the mask, but it’s also a singing competition. Giving the panel an opportunity to potentially unseat a contestant not voted out by the audience is dangerous, especially if they’re one of the best singers in the season. We already tend to get enough questionable eliminations in a season, so I was never on board for the risk of another one happening via the Take It Off Buzzer.
Of course, neither panelist was anywhere close to being correct with their guess, which made the whole exercise feel like a waste of time. This is especially true for fans who participate in sleuthing out celebrities’ identities throughout the season, who knew Ken Jeong and Jenny McCarthy were well off the money on their guessing. It feels like the twist would be entertaining to the audience in the studio, but not so much for viewers like me at home. I’m not upset The Masked Singer tried it, but it’s definitely something I’d suggest the series not bring back in Season 7 or future seasons.
The Masked Singer Season 6 is still rolling over on Fox on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET. Tune in as we reach the road to the end, and try to figure out who will win it all this season!
