We had a lot of new faces to meet on The Masked Singer this week, but one familiar one is missing: why is Ken Jeong not on this week, fans ask?
Yes, the comedian-actor was absent from the panel during the November 9 "Hall of Fame Night" episode, with Joel McHale and the late, great Leslie Jordan filling in as guest panelists (the episode was filmed in the summer of 2022, several months before Jordan's untimely death in October) alongside our usual lineup of Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy and Nicole Scherzinger.
Thicke, in particular, took up the Ken Jeong mantle of making totally out-of-left-field guesses ("I don't think Carrot Top could hit those notes," Nicole quipped of one such wackadoo theory), but still Ken's absence was noticeable to fans.
Some viewers even believed that Jeong was actually one of our three new masked performers for the week: Gopher, Venus Flytrap and a wedding dress-wearing dinosaur known as Bride. However, the reason behind Jeong's lack of attendance was a simple one: COVID.
"Sadly, you won't be seeing my gorgeous face on this week's Masked Singer as I had COVID but thankfully I got better super quickly, thank you vaccines!" Jeong posted on his Twitter.
Now that that mystery was solved, we and the panelists still had the task of trying to suss out the identities of our new competitors. The first crooner voted out this week was Venus Flytrap, who had performed "Get Ready" by The Temptations. The flytrap turned out to be two-time world heavyweight champion and griddle enthusiast George Forman.
That left Gopher and Bride for the Battle Royale round, during which they had to perform the Smash Mouth hit "All Star," with the latter ending up victorious. That meant the unveiling of Gopher, who was revealed to be funk legend George Clinton of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective. And the Bride (who many viewers are theorizing might be a wrestling superstar) moves onto the next round — will they join Harp and the Lambs in the semifinal?
Fans speculate over why is Ken Jeong not on Masked Singer:
Some fans missed Jeong's announcement about why he was absent from the November 9 episode of The Masked Singer and had some fun guesses as to what he might have been up to instead.
Ken Jung is the Bride ...November 10, 2022
I want the bride to be Ken so bad😂November 10, 2022
the gopher is Ken JeongNovember 10, 2022
The bride sounds like KenNovember 10, 2022
@MaskedSingerFOX OMG what if Ken is underneath one of the masks? #TheMaskedSingerNovember 10, 2022
Gopher and Venus flytrap may be ken because kens not in the panel this episode I think gopher is kenNovember 8, 2022
I am so excited about this season. The Lambs have me stumped! The gopher has me stumoed too but I know I have heard the vice somewhere before. I need more clues! Jenny you looked great as Gwen Stefani for 90's night! Where was Ken tonight? #TheMaskedSingerNovember 10, 2022
That's Ken. #TheMaskedSingerNovember 10, 2022
Honestly Ken being sick and unable to be there the week pro wrestler Chris Jericho shows up is such a crime. I really think Ken would have gotten him 😭#TheMaskedSinger #MaskedSingerNovember 10, 2022
@JennyMcCarthy @NicoleScherzy where is Ken at tonight or did they actually do what Jenny asked a couple of weeks ago and get rid of Ken instead of a contestant? #TheMaskedSingerNovember 10, 2022
Okay I think maybe Ken just actually isn't here tonight 😭#TheMaskedSinger #MaskedSingerNovember 10, 2022
New episodes of The Masked Singer air Wednesdays on Fox. Catch up with the show on Hulu.
