The Masked Singer: Penguin is Revealed as Sherri Shepherd

Week 6 of Fox’ smash hit who-sung-it reality singing competition, The Masked Singer, revealed the identity of not one, but two disguised celebrities. The first to be eliminated of the night was the Penguin, who turned out to be none other than Sherri Shepherd.

In order to make up for lost time, Fox’s music competition show aired a special event that sees all 11 remaining singers face-off over the course of two hours. But unfortunately, a two-hour special also meant that two contestants would be eliminated. The judges, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke and the audience vote and decide on their favorite masked singer, and the singer with the least amount of votes gets unmasked in front of the live studio audience. While the Penguin had only appeared on one episode, fans have heard her sing twice.  First for her rendition of “The Middle” by Maren Morris, though it was solid, it didn’t save her from being in the bottom two. She then headed in a head-to-head smackdown with the Eagle. She managed to keep herself in the game with her performance, “Worth It” by Fifth Harmony. The Eagle was sent home after being revealed as Dr. Drew Pinsky.

This week, she gave her all in her rendition of Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass,” but it didn’t hold up against her competition and the Penguin was unmasked – revealing it was Sherri Shepherd under the mask all along. As many fans know, comedian Shepherd became first recognized for her recurring roles on sitcoms in the 1990’s – such as Everybody Loves Ramond and The Jamie Foxx Show. She then went on to star in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock from 2007-2013. Fans might know her most from her time she spent hosting on ABC’s The View. Emmy award-winning TV host, Shepherd was a permanent feature on the show from 2007-2014. Not only is she an actress and a host, but she’s also an author, businesswoman, and mother of two.

The clues that were given in the Penguin’s clue videos pushed fans in the right direction, and there were plenty of people who guessed it was Shepherd under the mask. In her video, it said that “making people laugh” was her ticket to fame and that she had many ups and downs in her career. She hinted at her old job – a legal secretary – before she was in show biz by having a sign that reads “I’m not your secretary.” On top of that, there’s was a “Jesus came first” sign in the Penguin’s clue video, and Shepherd has been very open about her Christianity. Though, some fans got it wrong by guessing the Penguin might be Tonya Harding or Monica Lewinsky.

After she was sent home, Shepherd spoke to cameras backstage about her experience on The Masked Singer. She said, “I gave everybody all the joy that I have.” Though she is an outspoken host, actress, and comedian, Shepherd admitted to being “so scared.” She explained that the nerves came from her lack of confidence while singing, saying, “Singing is not my forte. I thought I was gonna pass out every single time on the stage, but I did it and I feel really good. I feel like, gosh, I can do anything.” She revealed that she would watch The Masked Singer with her son and he was the one who urged her to do it. She revealed, “My son Jeffrey was like, ‘Mommy, you should do the show.’ I said, ‘Okay, let me just try something that scares me,’ and I did it.” She then explained the difficulties of seeing out of the mask, due to the penguin’s eyes being on the side of the mask, so she could only see through a slit below the beak.

Shepherd AKA the Penguin joins the list of other masked celebrities that were voted out so far this season: videogame streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins as The Ice Cream, Olympic ice skater Johnny Weir as The Egg, four-time undefeated boxing champion Laila Ali as The Panda, and Dr. Drew as The Eagle. Fans will have to watch as the remaining disguised celebrities battle it out to be number one and try to guess who will be revealed next week.

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