Why the Raven on ‘The Masked Singer’ Has to Be Ricki Lake

The Masked Singer is one of TV’s latest hits, with unstoppable ratings and a huge fan base. In fact, just last week, the show was renewed for a second season.

The series follows a group of celebrities who dress up in ornate costumes that conceal their identity. They each perform a song along with a series of clues. The judges then try and guess the identity of each masked singer. At the end of the episode, the live audience votes off one celebrity.

Tonight on the show, the bee, monster, peacock, and raven will sing. What do we know about the raven? And why are we certain about her identity?

At this point, we are certain the raven is actress, TV presenter, and producer Ricki Lake. The clues completely match up with Ricki being the singer.

First of all, the raven can sing, and the judges have noted that she has somewhat of a Broadway voice. Ricki played Tracy Turnblad in the 1988 film Hairspray. On top of that, there have been a number of references to talk shows and getting an audience. Lake is a veteran in the world of TV presenting– her own talk show was broadcast internationally from September 1993 to May 2004. She’s even won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host. When Jenny McCarthy asked if she had ever hosted a talk show, the raven admitted she had.

The clues don’t end there. The raven has referenced losing someone a number of times on the show. Lake lost her ex-husband last year. She was married to jewelry designer Christian Evans. Last year, Evans took his own life. Months later, Lake came out saying that Evans had been struggling with bipolar disorder.

In March of last year, Lake’s latest project, Weed the People, screened at the SXSW film festival. It was co-produced alongside Evans. Speaking to People after the film’s screening, Lake said of her ex-husband, “I’ll miss him every day for the rest of my life, but I’m so proud he left this film behind.”

Lastly, in one of her introductions, Lake said, “Don’t cry, baby. This one’s for you.” That was likely a reference to her 1998 film, Cry Baby. The clues video have shown as a positive pregnancy test a few times, as well, and Lake produced and appeared in the documentary “The Business of Being Born.”

Be sure to tune into tonight’s episode of The Masked Singer airing on Fox at 9pm ET/PT.