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The Masked Singer recap: Orca swims away to reveal rock frontman

Warning: This article contains spoilers about The Masked Singer season 5 episode 6.

We said farewell to Orca, The Masked Singer's first-ever Wildcard contestant in the Group A Finals tonight. It also happened to be Nick Cannon's first episode back as host, after he was revealed as Bulldog by interim emcee Niecy Nash last week.

The panelists serenaded Cannon's return with a song, before Russian Dolls took the stage to perform Jason Derulo's "Want to Want Me" and hit high notes only dogs could register. The trio sorta became a quartet with the addition of another Doll, but it seemed like a prop to fake us out.

Then, the host introduced this week's on-stage clue, by way of a "Nick cannon" that shot out T-shirts bearing revealing slogans. For Russian Dolls, it was "What goes around, comes around." One of the Dolls also hinted at a breakup, saying the group was "together for some time" and it was "time to come back together again to the stage."

Some of the panelists picked up on the separation angle, as well as the mention of performing at the White House in the package. Nicole Scherzinger named Pentatonix, while Ken Jeong said the Jonas Brothers, and Jenny McCarthy guessed 98 Degrees.

Next up was crooner Robopine, who did his thing with Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly." His "Nick cannon" T-shirt read "AKA."

And for another time this season, not to mention the umpteenth time on the show, McCarthy thought Robopine could be Jamie Foxx.

"He's gotta end up some day," she argued, using the "if you build it, he will come" logic from Field of Dreams.

Scherzinger agreed with McCarthy, and at this rate, the famous Beetlejuice phrase will have to be changed to "Jamie Foxx, Jamie Foxx, Jamie Foxx."

The other panelist camp settled on Terrence Howard, with Jeong and Robin Thicke hearing parallels between the Empire star's voice and Robopine's tone.

Seashell then took the stage to sing "Tell Me Something Good" by Rufus and Chaka Khan. And on stage, she explained the meaning behind her "Motown" t-shirt, saying "Motown brought my family together."

That led McCarthy to guess Ashanti and Mýa, two singers who've been part of the Motown Records label. Scherzinger was inspired by the wedding cake clue to guess Keke Palmer, who co-hosted a wedding on her talk show. Meanwhile Thicke interpreted Seashell's superhero clues to guess Alicia Silverstone, a.k.a. Batgirl.

Orca then gave us a very sweet clue package and performance of Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" dedicated to his late father. Thicke, who lost his own father, Alan Thicke, a few years ago, gave Orca major kudos for his rendition. The competitor also revealed that he's a dad himself to 10-year-old twins, and never predicted he'd be "crying in a giant Orca costume."

Last but certainly not least, Yeti, this season's final Wildcard came out of his cage to perform New Edition's "If It Isn't Love." Cannon, who sang the group's "Candy Girl" as Bulldog last week, joked that the abominable snowman accomplished what he "was trying to do last week."

The panelists locked in their first impression guesses, before Yeti revealed that the clue on his T-shirt read "Aphrodite." Going off the goddess of love, plus the birthday candles in Yeti's clues package, McCarthy guessed Ray J, who had a dating show and sings the track "One Wish." The desserts clues led Scherzinger to Justin Bieber and his song "Yummy," while Jeong said ... SNL's Taran Killam? Going to ignore that for now.

Cannon then divulged that after all the votes were counted, Orca was eliminated. He was revealed to be ... Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath!

Roger Kisby/Getty Images

In his first episode, Orca left behind plenty of clues that led fans straight to McGrath. The segment included pumpkin, lemon, and orange pizzas, and numbers like 949 and the address 1313. The pumpkin had panelists thinking Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, but McGrath actually appeared in a video for the band. The lemon pizza was a nod to Sugar Ray's first album, Lemonade and Brownies, while the orange pizza referenced Orange County, where the rocker grew up. The area code for OC is also 949. The 13th letter of the alphabet is M, so 1313=MM, or Mark McGrath. The hawk was likely about Ethan Hawke, whom McGrath is often mistaken for, while the plane was of course about Sugar Ray's hit "Fly." The bowl of candy correlated to the band's sweet name.

And tonight, Orca gave even more detailed hints that gave McGrath away, like his father passing away and being parent to 10-year-old twins.

The panelists guessed other rockers, but all missed out on McGrath. McCarthy and Scherzinger both wrote down Dave Grohl as their first impression guess, with the former changing it to surfer Kelly Slater. Thicke stuck with his Billie Joe Armstrong prediction, which Jeong changed to after initially thinking Orca was Jon Bon Jovi.

After his unmasking, McGrath made fun of the comedian's guess, saying, "Bon Jovi? My head is still as big as Orca is right now."

After his elimination, McGrath revealed to EW that he was "terrified" to go on the show. "I was freaked out to do the show because it's a singing competition, you know? Yes, I do make my living as a singer, but I was terrified to do the show to begin with," he said.

Next week, the remaining Group A contestants will come together with Group B in a two-hour special. The Super 8 episode will feature guest panelist Rita Wilson and two unmaskings.

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