Folks at home loved “The Masked Singer,” and now FOX’s NEW hit celebrity competition is finally here. “The Masked Dancer” premiered last night, kicking off like its sister show: with a whole lot of colorful costumes disguising some big names.

This time, Craig Robinson hosts the competition, where masked celebs bust a move to see if folks at home can guess who they are. Your celebrity judges this time are Ken Jeong, the king of bad guesses returning to his throne, along with Paula Abdul (who knows a thing or two about judging from her “American Idol” days), Brian Austin Green, and Ashley Tisdale.

Since the celebs are dancing this time, folks will only get a peep of their real voices during the brief “Word Up!” segment. For the debut episode, we were introduced to Group A: Hammerhead, Tulip, Cricket, Disco Ball and Exotic Bird. Here’s what happened:

  • First up was Hammerhead, a self-proclaimed workaholic with a buff physique who says he shot to fame too quickly. He served up some major boy band moves for his performance of “Everybody” by Backstreet Boys. His dancing wasn’t top tier, but he put on a heck of a show. The panel thought he could be Carrot Top, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Joe Jonas or Zac Efron.
  • Next up was Tulip, full of energy for his tap dancing number to “Fergalicious” by Fergie. Paula caught on to Tulip’s fancy footwork, saying she’s “definitely a trained dancer.” As for the clues, there were references to Glee club, acrobatics, TikTok, a Mountain Lauren high school yearbook, and a journey from Alabama to Washington DC. The judges made guesses like TikTok stars Addison Rae and Charli D’Amelio, along with Ariana Grande and “Glee” star Heather Morris.
  • Then Cricket hit the stage… but it didn’t exactly look like he caught the dancing bug. He jumped around the stage to Pointer Sisters’ “Jump (For My Love,” giving off some bulky athlete vibes. He dropped clues about Las Vegas, gave the verbal clue “accomplished” which revealed an older voice, and also made a “90210” reference that had alum Brian Austin Green guessing he was co-star Ian Ziering. The judges also guessed Ryan Reynolds, Jim Carrey, and Ashton Kutcher.
  • Then it was Disco Ball’s turn. He seemed older too, and his dancing to “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars was questionable. He still put on a good show, and it looked like he knew how to rock a stage, too. He dropped hints about growing up on a rough block, but that finding his passion changed him for good. The panel made guesses like MC Hammer, LL Cool J, and Smoke Robinson.
  • Exotic Bird closed out the show with some confident moves to “Con Calma” by Daddy Yankee and Katy Perry. Exotic Bird had the rhythm, and is probably an athlete based on her hints about a race track and how she’s always been competitive. She was easily the strongest performer of the night. The judges loved it, and thought she could be Marion Jones, Hope Solo, Jennifer Hudson or Venus Wimbledon.

With all the debut performances done, it was finally time for the first “Masked Dancer” unmasking! Disco Ball was booted first, and revealed to be… rapper and “Law & Order” star Ice-T!

Ice-T played his early exit cool, telling Craig that he was determined to be on the show ever since he saw Lil Wayne on “The Masked Singer.” Check out Monday’s prep to see who is unmasked next – “The Masked Dancer” airs on Sundays at 8pm ET on FOX.

Source: FOX