On the second week of The Masked Singer, another celebrity was unmasked for the 3rd season of the hit show. This week, Llama was unable to pull the wool over anyone's eyes any longer and after failing to best his competition, was forced to remove his mask and reveal himself to be The Price is Right host Drew Carey.
Week two was kicked off with performances by the remaining 5 members of Group A. Celebrity panelists Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke were joined by the guest panelist, American Pie's Jason Biggs. After hearing Llama perform Tom Jones' It's Not Unusual the panel weighed in with their guesses. Guest panelist Biggs was convinced it was Jackass star Johnny Knoxville under the mask. Jeong stuck with his previous guess of Joel McHale. Other guesses included Woody Harrelson and Zach Galifianakis. While the performance was even better than the previous week, it just wasn't enough to keep the Llama in the game. Before being unmasked, the panelist had one last chance to offer their guesses at Llama's identity. While most stuck with their original guesses Thicke changed his to radio host Adam Carolla and Jenny McCarthy threw out a popular internet guess with Frasier's Kelsey Grammer. None of them, however, guessed the true identity of Llama was comedian Drew Carey.
While the panelists may have been surprised by the identity of Llama, many were not. Previous articles in this Screen Rant series pegged the game show host as the Llama before he had ever performed. An early clip that was shown on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon when panelist Jeong had appeared, showed Llama along with several clues. One was an album cover that said The Sound of Seattle and the other a 23.3 Wool radio station call sign. The first clue was a big one that pointed directly to Carey who is part owner of the Major League Soccer team the Seattle Sounders. This led fans to do more research which quickly uncovered that there were 233 episodes of The Drew Carey Show. In addition, the costume included a camera around the neck which many attributed to Drew often doing soccer sideline photography.
Sunday's premiere only further cemented Drew's identity for many. New clues included comedy and a buddha figure which continued to point at the comedian who also happens to be Buddhist. After viewers were treated to Llama performing a lively rendition of She Bangs by Ricky Martin, they were sure they recognized Carey's distinct voice. Many were swayed from actor Kelsey Grammer who was also a front runner in the online guesses. Week 2 gave the final clues which included an accordion, and most likely to be near firing cannons. Drew, who does play the accordion, explained the other clue to the panelists by pointing out he'd been in the marines.
While most fans never thought Carey (aka Llama) was likely to win the competition, there is no doubt he was a lot of fun and will still be greatly missed. Hearing him express how much fun he had while doing the show can only help with the future star power The Masked Singer can draw in. And he can forever say he beat Lil Wayne in a singing competition. Before the Whose Line is it Anyway star even uttered a single word, some fans had already solved the mystery. No matter how hard the hit show tries to make its clues, The Masked Singer production shouldn't underestimate the power of fans, forums, and a simple internet search.
The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8pm EST on Fox.