FOX Zebra in the "Group B Premiere - New Year, New Mask! (Who Dis?)" episode of THE MASKED DANCER.
The Masked Dancer premiere continued on FOX on Wednesday, January 6, featuring the second half of season 1’s contestants. One of those Group B performers was the Zebra.
Here’s what we know about the Zebra so far, and who we think might be performing behind the disguise of the Zebra mask:
BEWARE OF SPOILERS BELOW.
Zebra on ‘The Masked Dancer’ Clues
According to FOX, the unidentified celebrities dancing behind the mask have a number of impressive accolades on their resumés. FOX teases, “Between all of the celebrity dancers, they’ve amassed more than 38 million albums sold worldwide, 20 Emmy® Award wins, 20 Grammy® Award nominations, 10 World Dancing titles, five New York Times Best-Selling Author titles, four Olympic gold medals and three Broadway show appearances.” Which accomplishments are credited to the celebrity behind the Zebra mask?!
The panelists noted that the Zebra seems to always be dancing or moving around, which is a sign of a real performer. The Zebra’s heavily-fringed costume only accented each one of those twists and turns as he took to, and danced around, the stage.
At the start of his first clue package, he said, “I’ve kind of fallen out of the limelight.” He also revealed, “I grew up in a rough neighborhood.”
Some visual clues that stood out in the clue package included a third-place medal, a license plate reading 154-128, and a vintage convertible. There was also a magazine with a picture of the Zebra on it, which read “This Is a Clue.”
“There was only one direction to go: up.” That might have been a reference to One Direction, and there were a number of other boy band references in the clue package as well. Based on the clue package along, it seems like the star performing behind the mask definitely has ties, either past or present, to the world of boy band groups.
The backdrop for the performance seemed to be inspired by Cuba or Miami, and the Zebra’s dance and costume were heavily influenced by Salsa.
Zebra’s “Word Up” clue, which he delivered in his real voice (undisguised by the voice modulator) was “comeback.” Ashley Tisdale wondered if he had an accent, but none of the panelists were able to pick up a specific accent or cadence.
‘The Masked Dancer’ Zebra Guesses
The four celebrity panelists in charge of casting their guesses for who’s behind the Zebra mask each week are Ken Jeong, Ashley Tisdale, Paula Abdul, and Brian Austin Green.
Influenced by the “Latin vibes” present in Zebra’s performance, Green guessed that it could be Ricky Martin due to the “upside down, inside out” lyrical reference in the clue package.
Jeong guessed based on the boy bander references, thinking it may be Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson. behind the mask
At the end of the night, Zebra escaped elimination, which means fans will have to continue to tune in to see what clues Zebra brings with his next Masked Dancer performance.
New episodes of The Masked Dancer air on Wednesday nights at 8/7c on FOX.
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