“The Masked Singer” returned again to the air on Fox on Wednesday evening, and another of their mysterious animal-themed contestants was compelled to take off their mask. The fifth episode seemed to be following on the trend set by the four beforehand, with the unmasked contestant being yet another non-singing celebrity.
Again, only a portion of the remaining contestants in the quirky reality singing competition were sent to the stage; four out of the 8 surviving Masked Singers.
At the end of the episode, the female contestant, Unicorn, was eliminated and revealed to be the iconic lifelong TV star, Tori Spelling.
Tori Spelling joined to challenge fear of live performance
In hindsight, everything Unicorn shared during her talking segments for episode five of “The Masked Singer” were plain spoilers. The most telling hint she dropped was mentioning how she grew up near some “hills.” Decades-spanning TV watchers would remember Tori Spelling as one of the main characters in the Fox-aired nineties teen drama, “Beverly Hills 90210.” That show was also produced by legendary TV producer and Tori’s father, Aaron Spelling.
At that moment, however, one panel member on “The Masked Singer” – Ken Jeong, seemed to have caught on to Unicorn being Tori Spelling, though even he was caught off-guard that his guess was right this time around.
As for Tori’s reason to come and join Fox’s hot new reality show, she said according to USA Today that she was looking to conquer her biggest fear of performing before a live audience unlike in TV tapings. She also mentioned wanting to have her own example to encourage her children, who she likes to sing with in private.
One other identity clue that Spelling showed during the contest buildup to the finale of this “Masked Singer” episode was an old typewriter that belonged to her father Aaron.
She claimed it had been used to write initial scripts for all the shows he ever produced. The elder Spelling died 2006.
‘The Masked Singer’ cleared for another season
While it thankfully may not have been airing on the same weekday as veteran reality competition “America’s Got Talent: The Champions” on NBC, Fox felt very confident about the current ratings of “The Masked Singer.” So much so, that Hollywood Reporter reveals they intend to renew it for a second season.
“The Masked Singer” is based on a South Korean reality program. The premiere episode came out as the highest-rated of the current TV season in the adult age range of 18-49 years old. It also remains the top new show in the same period.