Yahoo Movies The Masked Dancer recap: Hammerhead swims away, revealed as reality TV star
Michael Becker/ FOX
Warning: This article contains spoilers about The Masked Dancer season 1, episode 5.
Hammerhead's time swimming with the sharks is over.
The contestant was eliminated in The Masked Dancer's Super Six episode tonight, and unmasked as a certain reality TV star.
Hammerhead did his best channeling another animal, the bull, in a spirited paso doble set to Santa Esmerelda's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood." The contestant was a lot of fun on stage — and I give him points for not doing magic while wearing a cape! — but guest panelist Whitney Cummings' feedback summed him up well.
"What's so beautiful about you is, I don't see a lot of craft, I see a lot of grit, I see a lot of heart," Cummings said, which was kind of a backhanded compliment, but then again there's not a etiquette handbook on how to address a dancing shark with muscles.
Cummings and regular panelists Ken Jeong, Ashley Tisdale, Brian Austin Green, and Paula Abdul had more effusive praise for Cotton Candy and Tulip, the two frontrunners of the season.
The sugary-sweet contestant once again showed off how limber she was with a performance full of flips and high kicks, set to Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire." Her flexibility had the panelists guessing celebrities like Gabi Butler of Cheer fame and Olympic gymnast Simone Biles.
Cotton Candy was followed by Exotic Bird, who danced to "Rush" by Lewis Capaldi featuring Jessie Reyez. In a first on Masked Dancer, Cummings decided to call "her actual friend" Kate Upton on the spot, after Jeong bragged that "his dear friend" and supermodel was Exotic Bird. What a flex! But Upton answered, so there went Jeong's guess.
Next, Sloth hammed it up on stage in a jazzy number to Dean Martin's "Ain't That a Kick in the Head." The competitor is by far the funnest to watch on the show, but don't discount his dance ability either! Abdul was certainly impressed by Sloth's jetées and pirouette turns (I would've just called them "twirlies"), especially as he was in such a heavy costume.
A few of the panelists were already convinced of Sloth's identity. Jeong was sure Sloth was his Hangover costar Bradley Cooper, citing their time hanging out dancing in his living room (I'd love to see footage of that). Meanwhile, Tisdale suggested Sacha Baron Cohen because there were 18 episodes in Da Ali G Show, and the number 18 showed up in Sloth's clue package. How she knew that, I don't know, but it did allow Abdul to segue into talking about being punked in Bruno, so it was worth it.
Tulip once again knocked it out of the park with a routine choreographed to Ariana Grande's "thank u, next."
Last was Zebra, who performed to "Mi Gente" by J Balvin and Willy William.
Ultimately, Hammerhead was eliminated, host Craig Robinson announced. He was unmasked and revealed to be ... Jersey Shore star Vinny Guadagnino!
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
None of the panelists were right, though three of them had picked either Pauly D or The Situation, Guadagnino's costars from the hit reality franchise. Throughout Hammerhead's tenure, there were plenty of hints to Guadagnino's claim to fame, like a book called Navigating the Shores of Life and a sports jersey. The suntan oil clue tonight referenced the Jersey Shore cast's credo of GTL or "Gym, Tan, Laundry."
As for the Guadagnino-specific clues, Hammerhead's Vegas imagery was a nod to his 2019 residency as the guest host of Chippendales, and the lawyer mention was actually about Guadagnino's plan to attend law school if entertainment didn't pan out.
The top five — Zebra, Tulip, Exotic Bird, Sloth, and Cotton Candy — have survived another round to compete in Wednesday's episode, which will feature Call Me Kat star Mayim Bialik as a guest panelist.
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