It is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that one of the greatest stars in noughties pop has been exposed on The Masked Singer.
The famous celebrity talent competition has big-name artists wearing head-to-toe costumes and performing massive pop tunes while judges and the audience try to identify who’s underneath.
Donny Osmond, Aloe Blacc, and Ne-Yo have all been unmasked on the US version of the show throughout the years, and Sisqó, the Thong Song icon, took his turn on Wednesday.
Sisqó, who had been wearing the lizard costume for the first three weeks, was eliminated after four weeks in the competition, with judges Ken Jeong and Jenny McCarthy still unsure of his identity.
However, other judges Rita Ora and Robin Thicke were confident by the end of his unmasking that the R&B performer was the man behind the lizard mask who had performed Evanescence’s Bring Me to Life that night.
Sisqó first hit the big time in the late 1990s, featuring on singer Mya’s song It’s All About Me, which was a huge hit in America, before releasing his own debut single, Got to Get It.
But it was his follow-up hit Thong Song that sent him over the edge and made him an international star, with the song eventually going platinum in the UK after reaching the top three on both sides of the Atlantic.
His album Unleash the Dragon went five times platinum in the USA in the early weeks of the new millennium as Sisqó, whose real name is Mark Andrews, became known for his close-cut bleach blonde hair.
Masked Singer presenter Nick Cannon challenged him, ‘You have rocked venues all over the globe, why in the world did you do The Masked Singer?’
Sisqó replied: ‘My family loves the show and every time we saw a season, everybody would always say, ”Hey, this got to be Sisqó”. ‘So, when I got an opportunity to do it, I seized it and it’s really been fun.’
Rita Ora came up to Robin Thicke and hugged him as it was announced that the two had predicted correctly, and they were able to witness Sisqó play his iconic hit live on stage after his elimination.
Earlier this season, comedian and actor Kevin Hart was removed after only one performance, with his off-key singing beneath the Book costume bringing fans into hysterics at home.
‘One of the most charming performances I’ve ever seen. Nobody is more fun than the Book,’ Robin Thicke commented as he laughed. ‘My face is hurting.’
However, Kevin stated that the entire performance was a joke and that he had purposefully done so horribly.
Watch The Masked Singer UK on ITVX and Britbox.
