Wednesday night's edition of The Masked Singer US season 8 took us to Sin City with a "Vegas Night" episode and with it came another trio of celebrity performances, two more unmaskings and one victor, who is quickly becoming the frontrunner of the season.
Along with returning champ Harp, this week's episode introduced two new competitors in Panther and Pi-Rat. (Yes, that is a pirate-themed rodent.) The big cat, who performed Nina Simone's "Feeling Good," had both audiences and the judges' panel guessing an athlete due to his considerable height, with names like Andre Drummond and Lamar Odom being thrown around.
Pi-Rat, who sang "Crocodile Rock" by Elton John, stood out due to his short stature, his use of puppetry and his crowd-working skills. "That guy's an entertainer, he knows how to work an audience," judge Donny Osmond said, however his comment that the rodent was emphatically not a dancer led to a jokey stand-off between the two.
The rat, who had the lowest votes on the night, was shockingly revealed mid-episode to be comedian-ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. However, the "mystery" over who is Harp on The Masked Singer US has been less of a head-scratcher for fans.
After a Battle Royale between Harp and Panther, set to Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild," Harp proved victorious again ("that is one of the greatest notes hit on that stage in Masked Singer history," judge Nicole Scherzinger exclaimed about her performance), which meant that Panther got unmasked onstage. The tall cat turned out to not be an athlete at all but "This is How We Do It" soul singer-slash pastor Montell Jordan.
But who is Harp? Here's why diehard Glee fans think they've figured it out.
Fans guess The Harp, Masked Singer season 8 competitor:
So who do fans think is behind this season's golden girl? Glee fans were quick to theorize that the celebrity is none other than the FOX sitcom's star Amber Riley, with clues nodding to popular Glee performances like "And I Am Telling You." Here's what viewers are saying on social media.
It’s really the Masked Singer that’s giving us the covers Amber Riley deserved to sing in Glee pic.twitter.com/iC1m7cseQnSeptember 29, 2022
Me: Why is Amber Riley trending? *clicks**hears 1 second of her singing*Yeah. Any one who watched Glee knew exactly who the Harp was. I don't even watch The Masked Singer but damn. https://t.co/m0v1qpiCFISeptember 29, 2022
I don’t even watch the masked singer and i took one look at this and know there’s no way that isn’t the Amber Riley 😂 everyone who watched glee should immediately recognize her fire voice y’all ain’t fooling us 💀 https://t.co/h5oIiCh7jhSeptember 29, 2022
the masked singer is never gonna have another glee cast member on again like it’s just TOO easy…September 29, 2022
the harp (aka amber riley) singing only glee songs so far on the masked singer??? yea she did this for me #TheMaskedSingerSeptember 29, 2022
Amber Riley will likely win season 8 of The Masked Singer. She’s obviously Harp. Any GLEE fan or anyone that saw a commercial or clip better catch that.September 28, 2022
NOT AMBER RILEY ON THE MASKED SINGER!!!! GLEE STANS STAND UP!!! #MaskedSinger pic.twitter.com/o2Foj5TtMZSeptember 22, 2022
@JennyMcCarthy I don't watch the masked singer much, but I know my voices being a fan of musicals, I can say with certainty that The "Harp" is Amber Riley who played Mercedes on Glee, you may never see this but your viewers will and if they hadn't guessed.... their welcome!September 20, 2022
honestly putting any member of the glee cast on the masked singer is so dumb. gleeks can sniff those people out of a crowd of people with just one note. don’t kid yourself.September 8, 2022
Me not watching The Masked Singer or Rupaul's Celeb Drag Race but knowing EXACTLY who Amber and Kevin are after 2 seconds of watching https://t.co/lg8KbluIWASeptember 29, 2022
Amber. Baby. We know you. You can’t be going on The Masked Singer.September 29, 2022
amber riley being on the masked singer when having a one of a kind voice 😭😭September 29, 2022
