We’re going to be honest here for a second: We do not always find the choices that Fox’s The Masked Singer makes, vis a vis the “big celebrity reveals” that are its stock in trade, to be the biggest surprises possible. (It is not, for instance, wholly surprising that Anthony Anderson might spend a week or two pretending to dance around and sing as a big rubber duck.) But kudos (?) to the singing competition show tonight: We were genuinely not expecting the helmet of The Diver to come off during “NFL Week,” only to reveal the very sweaty head of Noted Adulterer Tom Sandoval, from Bravo’s Vanderpump Rules.
The wildest thing about Sandoval’s appearance—besides the sheer everything of it—is its reminder that there is no room for judgment in the world of Masked Singer, where (give or take a Rudy Giuliani here or there) every contestant is “great,” and amazing, and we’re all just so happy to see them. Sandoval himself might make multiple references to “not being judged” (except for his performance of OneRepublic’s “I Ain’t Worried,” which was judged to be, y’know, bad), but the entire remit of the show is that its hosts are always excited to see whoever comes out of the big pretty costumes, even if their entire brand, at this point, is “Whoops, I cheated repeatedly on my wife.” (Of course, he “did it for love,” as his clue video, released earlier this week, shamelessly asserts.)
Weird and gross! Anyway, Sandoval got his ass kicked by a whole bunch of fellow competitors, including Cow, S’more, Gazelle, and Pickle, who serenaded the ever-accepting audiences with songs by Bruno Mars, Maroon 5, Katy Perry, and The Who, respectively.