Celebrity judges and hosts are nice, but at the end of the day everyone knows that what makes or breaks a reality show are the contestants. And if the first two weeks of The Masked Singer’s (Wednesdays, 8pET on CTV) fourth season are any indication, this year is gonna be a doozy. Case in point? Wednesday night’s shocking self-elimination, when Gremlin just decided to take off his mask after his performance.

No Voting on Wednesday Night

It was a Masked Singer first, and no one knew quite how to react. But after Crocodile, Baby Alien, Seahorse, Whatchamacallit and Serpent doled out their Group B performances, it was Gremlin’s time to shine with a rendition of “Stand By Me.” The judges were immediately torn as to who was under the mask, with Robin Thicke guessing Jerry Lee Lewis and Ken Jeong going for Steve Austin. But it was Jenny McCarthy who plucked Mickey Rourke from her brainy reserve of guesses, and as it turns out she was right.

No one:Absolutely no one:#GremlinMask: I'm taking this off right now!#TheMaskedSinger pic.twitter.com/Jfuq9xeh0F

— The Masked Singer (@MaskedSingerFOX) October 1, 2020

It turns out that Rourke was not in it to win it—he just wanted to come on, do a ditty (paying tribute to his late friend Willy DeVille), and leave. Whether that was a part of getting the Oscar-nominated actor on board or not is a total mystery (it was convenient that he went last), but it sure allowed the episode to close off with a bang. “I was in the neighborhood,” Mickey said when host Nick Cannon asked him why he did the series. “I do like the show. I've watched like, four episodes. When they asked, ‘Would you be interested?’ I watched from the very beginning and all that s--t, you know.”And with that, he and Nick gave one final performance and Rourke walked off the stage as the judges tried to recover from their shock. Now that’s how you own The Masked Singer stage, people. (Or as Nick said, “It’s the Gremlin Show”).[video_embed id='2046083']MORE TV NEWS: Gabrielle Union and NBC reach ‘AGT’ settlement [/video_embed]

And Then There Were Five

With Gremlin’s self-elimination, that meant the rest of the performers in Group B are safe for now. Which is probably a relief to many fans given the high-quality performances they gave. Nick and his crew of Men in Black were getting some serious dance moves on throughout the night, starting with Crocodile’s perfect performance of Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life,” and continuing with Baby Alien’s puppetry performance of George Michael’s “Faith.”

Unbeweavable performance #WhatchamacallitMask #TheMaskedSinger pic.twitter.com/xdXj0W6N8K

— Robin Thicke (@robinthicke) October 1, 2020

Seahorse also brought it with her Western clue package and killer performance of “Only Girl (In the World)” by Rihanna, leading the judges to declare her one of the early favourites to win this whole thing. Meanwhile, Whatchamacallit brought swagger (but not a brush) for his fun performance of Skee-Lo’s “I Wish” and Serpent slithered his way into the panel’s hearts with a soulful rendition of The Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).”In other words, this week’s group was just as talented and jaw-dropping as last week’s, which means it’s probably going to be a season of upsets and more firsts like on Wednesday night. After all, it doesn’t matter how talented you are, each week somebody has to go home, and with everyone bringing it this early it’s completely unpredictable who might exit next. Thankfully fans have a little more time before the really heartbreaking eliminations, as next week introduces a new batch of contestants with the colourful masks of Group C.Something tells us they’re going to blow everyone away all over again.Watch The Masked Singer Wednesdays at 8pET on CTV.[video_embed id='-1']BEFORE YOU GO: Bull Terriers can't contain excitement for first night in a hotel [/video_embed]