The actors strike may be ending, but the toils of those forced to work in the dancing, singing, and “wearing a giant Hibiscus costume” mines continue tonight, as Fox’s The Masked Singer returned for another night of music, mediocre guesswork, and everyone pretending to be incredibly excited to see B- or C-tier human beings popping out of A+ costumes.
Tonight’s reveal—which was, indeed, the Hibiscus—confirmed nothing so much as the suggestion that the talent booker at Bravo really deserves a raise, as Real Housewife Of New York Luann de Lesseps ended up being the one to come out of the mask, having been unseated from her anonymity by failing to out-perform the Anteater in a rendition of Toni Basil’s “Mickey” at the conclusion of “One-Hit Wonder Night.”
De Lesseps is the second Bravo celebrity to be revealed during the show’s tenth season, with the show having previously decapitated the Diver to reveal the rat-ish face of Vanderpump Rules’ Tom Sandoval. De Lesseps’ reveal comes right in the aftermath of this year’s BravoCon, so verily, the brand synergy is strong.
In addition to the typical reveal, audiences for tonight’s Masked Singer also got to feel that weird sensation of seeing musical artists have their entire lives get summed up as one-hit wonders on national TV; in addition to Basil—did you know she choreographed Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood?—other artists to get damned with this very faint praise included Blue Swede, The Weather Girls, Amerie, and poor Marc Cohn, who saw his “Walking In Memphis” get subjected to the Anteater’s vocal ministrations. Anyway, de Lesseps ended the episode by performing her own 2010 song, “Money Can’t Buy You Class,” which did not get tarred with the one-hit wonder brush, presumably because it was never actually a hit.