For the last seven weeks, we’ve been glued to The Masked Singer every Saturday night, and the show has taken us on a real journey.
We’ve said goodbye to madcap characters like Grandfather Clock, Bush Baby and Viking and seen the unmasking of stars like Mel B, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Gabrielle.
There was shock and surprise at Dragon being revealed as Sue Perkins and sweet relief in the moment Davina McCall finally registered that it was Sir Lenny Henry’s very distinctive voice coming out of Blob’s mask.
And now, just three stars remain in the contest.
This week, either Badger, Robin or Sausage will be crowned the winner of the second series of The Masked Singer UK – but the question remains… who is that behind the mask?
Well, with days to go until the identities of all three are finally confirmed, here’s what fans have been suggesting on social media in the last few weeks…
Badger
There had been whisperings from the early days of this year’s series that Grammy-winning US star Ne-Yo was behind Badger’s disguise, but we initially dismissed them as, frankly, we didn’t think The Masked Singer UK would have such A-list pulling power.
We have to admit though, as the weeks went on, the clues pointing to Ne-Yo were pretty hard tom ignore.
One of his first VTs showed a periodic table with Neon circled (shortened to just “Ne” as a chemical element) as well as showing an oilcan, hinting at Ne-Yo’s portrayal of the Tin Man in a live production of The Wiz.
The real lightbulb moment for us came during “Clues Week”, when the contestants each performed a song alluding to their true identity.
Badger covered the Kelly Clarkson song Because Of You… which just happens to be the name of Ne-Yo’s second album.
Since then, the clues have been coming in thick and fast, including a thank you note from Barbra Streisand – who Ne-Yo paid tribute to at a concert at the Kennedy Centre. There was also a nod to coding; the singer set up a free coding school to encourage young people to become more tech savvy.
More than any clue, though… just take a listen to Badger’s singing voice. It’s pretty unmistakeable.
In fact – the very first word we heard come out of the character’s mouth was “yo”, so it’s kind of been under our nose the whole time.
Sausage
Had you asked us a couple of weeks ago, we’d have told you unequivocally that Sausage was Sheridan Smith.
Over the weeks, there’ve been countless hints suggesting the Bafta-winning star was underneath the giant savaloy, including references to her past projects like Legally Blonde: The Musical, Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps and Funny Girl.
Even Sausage’s voice has sounded seriously like Sheridan’s, not least when the character sang And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going, a song the West End performer covered on her debut studio album.
However, these past couple of weeks we’ll admit it – we’ve started to have our doubts. And no… we’re not talking about Stacey Solomon.
When viewers were offered a glimpse of Sausage’s dressing room, we saw that she was burning joss sticks, which put many in mind of Joss Stone. But there’s a lot more to the Joss Stone speculation than just this.
During her penultimate VT, Sausage said she once “snagged a king” and was “on the menu for a princess”.
In the historical drama The Tudors, Joss played Henry VIII’s fourth wife, Anne Of Cleves, and she also performed at the Concert For Diana back in 2007.
Her Tudors character was also dismissed by Henry VIII due to her appearance, while Sausage said in one throwaway comment that she’d once been compared to “a horse”.
Sausage also once flashed a pink toolbox on screen, something Joss has revealed she also owns in a past interview.
Back in 2015, Joss outed herself as a DIY enthusiast, saying her tools live in a “pink tool box that gets moved around the house by various people so it is never easy to find”.
During “Clues Week”, Sausage covered Lisa Stansfield’s All Around The World, the same singer who presented Joss with her Brit Award win back in 2005.
We have to hand it to The Masked Singer, they really have kept us on our toes right until the bitter end with Sausage.
Robin
One character we’ve been certain about from pretty much week one is Robin, and we’re definitely not changing our minds about it now.
From the very first time we heard the character sing, many fans thought they could hear Aston Merrygold of JLS fame’s voice, and the clues that Robin has given over the course of the series definitely correspond to this.
He has apparently tried to throw us off the scent, though, first by pointing in the direction of another boyband when Robin said he’d been known to “fly without wings”. However, he and his JLS bandmates performed Flying Without Wings alongside Westlife when they made it through to the X Factor final.
Robin has also spoken repeatedly about his love of football, even suggesting he represented his country in the sport. Well, Aston is also a football devotee, and played for England during Soccer Aid back in 2012.
During Robin’s “two lies and a truth” game, he commented that he began his career by performing impressions, while Aston’s first ever TV appearance was covering Michael Jackson on Stars In Their Eyes Kids.
The song he performed was, aptly, Rockin’ Robin, which the character later performed again during “Clues Week”.
There’ve been other clues too – Robin commented about performing in blue, which was Aston’s signature in JLS, and the character was seen surrounded by crew members in 3D glasses, a nod to the boyband’s concert film, which was released in cinemas in 3D.
In short, we think we’ve got this one in the bag. Or, more appropriately, the nest.
The Masked Singer final airs on Saturday night at 7pm on ITV.
