Holy crap, Masked Singer, you picked a bad one tonight
One of reality TV's most infamous recent figures was welcomed onto the Fox series with open arms
Aux News Masked Singer
We’re going to be honest here for a second: We do not always find the choices that Fox’s The Masked Singer makes, vis a vis the “big celebrity reveals” that are its stock in trade, to be the biggest surprises possible. (It is not, for instance, wholly surprising that Anthony Anderson might spend a week or two pretending to dance around and sing as a big rubber duck.) But kudos (?) to the singing competition show tonight: We were genuinely not expecting the helmet of The Diver to come off during “NFL Week,” only to reveal the very sweaty head of Noted Adulterer Tom Sandoval, from Bravo’s Vanderpump Rules.
The wildest thing about Sandoval’s appearance—besides the sheer everything of it—is its reminder that there is no room for judgment in the world of Masked Singer, where (give or take a Rudy Giuliani here or there) every contestant is “great,” and amazing, and we’re all just so happy to see them. Sandoval himself might make multiple references to “not being judged” (except for his performance of OneRepublic’s “I Ain’t Worried,” which was judged to be, y’know, bad), but the entire remit of the show is that its hosts are always excited to see whoever comes out of the big pretty costumes, even if their entire brand, at this point, is “Whoops, I cheated repeatedly on my wife.” (Of course, he “did it for love,” as his clue video, released earlier this week, shamelessly asserts.)
Weird and gross! Anyway, Sandoval got his ass kicked by a whole bunch of fellow competitors, including Cow, S’more, Gazelle, and Pickle, who serenaded the ever-accepting audiences with songs by Bruno Mars, Maroon 5, Katy Perry, and The Who, respectively.
65 Comments
Hey, AV Club, it might be time to consider seeking therapy over your Vanderpump/Sandoval obsession.
Ugh – seriously. It’s all my AI girlfriend wants to talk about.
Your lucky. My AI girlfriend just talks about wanting to kill all the meat bags
My AI girlfriend is Hilda. She lives in the village.
My AI girlfriend tried to access NORAD’s computers in order to launch some nuclear missiles. The government shut her down and has her locked up on a private server in Area 51.
Cool cool cool
Its so sad…. what happened to her parents in that fire.
She’s right to do so, however.
My AI girlfriend has a disconcerting number of fingers.
My AI boyfriend lives in a van, down by the river. I thought he’d be doing better by now.
You wouldn’t know my AI girlfriend, she lives in Canada.
Can’t even get the AIs to talk to me.
Have you met my AI girlfriend, Georgina Glass?
And Masked Singer obsession. It gets more regular coverage compared to most televison.
Is there an obsession? This is literally the first I’m hearing of it and I visit AVClub most days. Though maybe if “Vanderpump Rules” was in the headline I probably didn’t click on it because I don’t know what that is. Same for “Tom Sandoval” because I don’t know who that is either.
I thought I’d be sad when I got to the age of not knowing about current pop culture trends, but now that it’s happened I’m pretty cool with it.
Welcome to the club.
I actually surprised myself to come up with the correct person here, despite my knowledge of the person or situation in question barely extending to the fact that it wasn’t fictional. I’ve tried to read several AV Club and Jezebel articles about the mess, and never got as far as understanding if it was real or some sort of WWE subplot that everyone was super interested in for some reason. But I was still able to guess “that guy who is or was in that thing who maybe cheated?”
We haven’t missed a damned thing. And think what you did with the time instead (that may or may not have been a great prompt…)
Same.
I promise you the Masked Singer is not part of new youth pop culture.
Based on the bits and pieces I come across, I think I’d choose the lickfoot over comprehending who that guy is, why he’s famous, and why his actions have warranted so many scandal headlines.
“Noted Adulterer”. Sweet. How does one get that gig?
Isn’t being mad at a reality tv person for relationship drama with other reality tv people like getting mad at Andre the Giant for betraying Hulk Hogan?
Watching all of the hosts insist “It’s FUN. This is fun…. Omg, so fun.”
I don’t watch R-tv, but these are some underwhelmed performers.
I think in every commercial I’ve ever seen of this show, even long before this d-bag was on it, the hosts come off as underwhelmed but sweatily desperate to hide it. It’s a paycheck, I guess.
I’m sitting here wondering “Who the fuck is Pickle?”, then I realised you’re referring to their costumes. Apparently I’ve seen Zootopia too many times, because I thought Gazelle was an established artist.
‘”I’m sitting here wondering “Who the fuck is Pickle?”, then I realised you’re referring to their costumes. Apparently I’ve seen Zootopia too many times, because I thought Gazelle was an established artist.”’Same, no but haven’t you heard of Pickle…
I’ve heard of Pickle.
Gazelle is an established artist, but she’s dealing with a tax issue in Spain at the moment.
I couldn’t pick this guy out of a lineup if my life depended on it, but even I know that he wasn’t married to the woman he cheated on.
In a world where Rudy Giuliani was on the show, I fail to see how this even moves the needle. You could easily argue, and rightfully so, that some of the judges on the show are worse than Tom Sandoval
Oh for fuck’s sake, adultery isn’t a crime. Let’s save the “this guy shouldn’t be on TV” for the actual predators since we have a hard enough time even keeping them out of work.
The argument wasn’t that adultery is a crime, it’s that it’s a pretty weak claim to fame.
Personally, I think being on a “Vanderpump Rules,” whatever that is, is his claim to fame here. They mention it in the headlines of many, many articles, none of which I read.I agree that adultery is not a crime, and if we keep widening what “infractions” should result in deplatforming, I vote that excessive snark be next.
He was already pretty famous from being on a TV show for several years.
I sure as hell never heard of him until he became much more famous this year because of this. As far as I can tell, his celebrity had been limited to people who watch this particular stupid fucking contrived and written “reality” show.
“One of reality TV’s most infamous recent figures was welcomed onto the Fox series with open arms”the subhead sure makes it sound like he’s some sort of villain who should not be welcomed with open arms
What the fuck has dude done to merit his appearance anywhere?
Ten seasons on one of the more/most popular reality shows on tv. It’s not that complex.
Not all of us celebrate mediocrity, buddy.
Not to conflate awareness with adulation; I was just answering why a reality star is appearing on a different reality show, friend (non-pejorative).
It must just be a coincidence that his appearance is in the immediate wake of the affair that massively increased his profile!I don’t understand the point of this incorrect correction.
I was just answering your question “What the fuck has dude done to merit his appearance anywhere?” as best I understand it; guy’s a high-profile reality star (especially in the wake of the cheating scandal) appearing on a high-profile reality show. Not trying to correct or get into any sort of bitter argument. Anyway, see ya!
Still seems pretty reasonable to suggest that the shade in the article was not because this man had an affair but because that’s pretty much his whole brand. If it was a person whose fame came from their work who also had an affair, it wouldn’t have been like that.No one suggested people should be jailed or shunned for adultery; just that it shouldn’t be a career boost.
yeah I have no idea who this dude is, but who cares if he cheated on his wife. People cheat all the time.
It’s a fair assumption that if someone is famous for existing on a reality show, they are probably not a good person and should not continue being famous. I’d be surprised if adultery was the worst thing they’ve done, but also have no interest in knowing more about them than I currently do.
Ugh I hate that I know enough about this to deliver any input but… the thing is, he cheated on his wife (who’s also on the Vanderpump show, and I think a lot of fans like her) with another cast mate on the show (who is also well liked for a reality show star), and with the benefit of that knowledge you can see that affair unfolding over the course of the season. Fold in that this is the tenth season, so viewers who even know who these people are probably feel pretty invested and/or let down.So I think it’s less “this guy’s a criminal,” and more “this guy’s a jerk and there’s tons of documentation of it, so he’s a big ol heel.” And, as we’ve seen on the old avc, the media is chowing down on it.
I get all that, I guess I am just really annoyed by avc making it seem like someone really horrible was on the show for the sake of click-bait.
Why is this piece not attributed to any one author?
Maybe they should have all the authors dress up in goofy costumes and we would have to guess which one wrote the piece.
Is it AI #246??? It is!!!
Yes this is the only answer.
Shame or AI
I’m guessing it’s because no one wanted to write this article, but they were ordered to do it. It’s kind of like the “Allen Smithee” of by-lines.
Even nu-AV Club writers are capable of feeling shame?
You guys understand that he’s just an actor playing a character on a TV show, right?
Meh, Sarah Palin was worse.
I’m curious: when the byline is “AV Club Staff”, who actually wrote it? AI?
Is noted anti-vaxx indirect child murderer Jenny McCarthy still on the show?
I don’t know who or what that is, but it can’t be worse than how they picked a post-insurrection Rudy Giuliani.
AV Club Staff, take off your mask.
He’s on the Special Forces show too. No clue who he was other than he keeps saying he needs to be punished / deserves the punishment he gets on that show.
I’m sorry that your dad cheated on your mom. It clearly scarred you and left you with some very strong feelings about marital infidelity, even when it comes to D-list celebrities who you’ve never met and have no reason to care about on a personal level. Fortunately, there are therapists out there who specialize in treating the trauma that kids can undergo from a seeing their parents have a difficult divorce.