‘The Masked Singer’ pulls out the pranks in April Fool’s Day episode

You have to hand it to the people putting on The Masked Singer (Wednesdays, 8 pET CTV). When they decide they’re going to go for a gag, they really go for it. Dad jokes? Oh, they’ve got dad jokes all day long. Weird father-son references between Nick Cannon and Ken Jeong? Clearly. April Fool’s Day gags? Well, fans should remember this show filmed before a pandemic took over the world, and so there were plenty of awesome gags to go around as the Super Nine took to the stage for the very first time.

Nick Cannon says farewell (JK)

When Nick Cannon announced in the episode that this would be his last season hosting The Masked Singer, fans at home were probably just as surprised as the panelists were. But did they really take him seriously? Because at that point it was pretty clear that they were all out to fool each other. So when Cannon yelled “April Fool’s!” it was a weird mix of smug satisfaction but also relief. No fan really wants this family to break up so it’s fair to admit if you were a little thrown. After all, this is the same Nick Cannon that made everyone believe his friend Eric from San Bernardino, Calif. was “special guest star Snoop Dogg” at the top of the show.Either way the proclamation was one of the more shocking gags. Who didn’t jump up when Robin Thicke’s weird fluttering bug thing popped out of Jenny McCarthy’s notebook? Was anyone not smiling when Jeong serenaded Cannon with a lip-sync of Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way?” And who was loving McCarthy’s taped-on armpit hair, meant to gross everyone out when she raised those arms sky-high? It was a packed night of punchlines for sure.

That was a hairy situation, @JennyMcCarthy. ? #TheMaskedSinger pic.twitter.com/s71y6wcubz

— The Masked Singer (@MaskedSingerFOX) April 2, 2020

The Super Nine take the stage

It wasn’t all gags, fake Snoops and armpit hair, thankfully. The real highlight of the night was when the cream of the masked crop finally took to the stage and fans got to see some of the performers they haven’t seen in weeks. The action kicked off with the Group A finalists (White Tiger, Turtle, and Kangaroo), before moving on to those from Group B (Banana, Kitty and Frog), and then wrapping up with Group C (Night Angel, Rhino and Astronaut). With nine performances—plus that special Jackson Five-inspired group ditty at the beginning—there was a lot to fit in and there was no way they could have done it in anything less than two hours. Thankfully, a two-hour musical escape is probably the ticket many fans are looking for right about now.[video_embed id='6145828483001']RELATED: iheartradio Living Room Concert: Message from Ken Jeong[/video_embed]And those performances… it’s almost like the singers were waiting to bring out the big guns at the Super Nine, because some of the middle-of-the-pack contestants, like Kitty and Rhino, really brought their A-game. Heck even White Tiger, whom fans were quite upset at having made it farther than Chaka Khan all those weeks ago, entertained everyone with his funky version of “I’m Too Sexy.” On what other show can a guy put on a giant Tiger costume, belt out terrible lyrics and still entertain everyone to that extent?

White Tiger has his last roar

While the audience was certainly roaring over White Tiger’s antics, this time around they weren’t enough to keep him in the game. After he, Rhino and Banana were sent to the bottom three, the panelists voted to send White Tiger home. After all, as Nicole Scherzinger so correctly pointed out, the guy just sang in whatever key he felt like. Sure it worked for him, but at this point all of the other contestants left can sing and perform. At this stage of the game you kind of need both to survive.But then it came time for the big reveal, and for just one of the few times this season the panelists (or at least some of them) actually had it right. McCarthy followed her gut and picked Rob Gronkowski, aka Gronk, and Thicke went along with it. And, just as the internet has been saying for months now, the former American football tight end and Fox Sports analyst popped out from underneath. Was it the show’s worst-kept secret? Probably. Do his fans care any less? No. No they do not.

It was me behind the #WhiteTigerMask! What was it like performing as the White Tiger on the @MaskedSingerFOX stage? Absolutely Too Sexy it was!! #TheMaskedSinger pic.twitter.com/sDHrCQs8dU

— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) April 2, 2020

“I’ve always loved dancing and my dance moves were always one of a kind and I always felt like I was never on rhythm, so when I got asked to do The Masked Singer, I knew I was in. I wanted to do it,” Gronk said after being unmasked. “I wanted to learn how to sing and also I really wanted to learn how to dance.”And just like that, fans who were upset all those weeks ago when White Tiger stayed in it were redeemed. Now it’s on to the Top 8 as the remaining performers begin to take the stage in the first part of “The Mother of All Final Face Offs” next week. Bring your singing masks because the competition is definitely heating up.The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8 pET on CTV.[video_embed id='1932092']BEFORE YOU GO: Justin Bieber and Tom Holland go live on IG and fans can’t get enough[/video_embed]