Ex-Ten star’s surprise unveiling on The Masked Singer

A big surprise on the latest Masked Singer, with the unmasking of a celeb who’s now on a rival network after parting ways with Ten. WARNING: Spoilers.

WARNING: Spoilers below.

One Masked Singer hopeful had a very short run during Tuesday’s episode, with the Gnome introduced as this season’s second wildcard contestant – only to be unmasked and sent packing at the end of the episode.

And after a less-than-professional rendition of The Monkees’ classic I’m A Believer, the gnome was revealed to be... former MasterChef judge Matt Preston:

Matt Preston returns to Ten for one night only.

It was a surprising appearance back on Ten for the food critic, who parted ways with the network along with the other original MasterChef judges back in 2019 and subsequently moved to the Seven Network. In fact, Preston is currently appearing in the same time slot as The Masked Singer over on Seven’s My Kitchen Rules.

RIP Gnome, we hardly knew ye.

Matt Preston, pulling double duty on rival networks.

Chrissie Swan was the only judge to correctly guess the Gnome was Preston - making it the third episode in a row that she’d confidently called out the departing celebrity before they were revealed.

Her dream run of sensible, educated guesses is an unexpected twist for the show a that, four seasons in, usually thrives on misdirection and outlandish picks (Dave Hughes in particular seems to guess more dead celebrities than live ones). Swan is nailing this game.

Elsewhere in Tuesday’s episode, the Snapdragon sung a Billie Eilish hit, still sounding just as much like The Voice and Eurovision star Sheldon Riley as he did in the first episode.

Popcorn crooned through the Elton John / Dua Lipa smash Cold Heart, and I’m still firm in my initial belief that he’s Black & Gold singer Sam Sparro - I recognised those vocals instantly from his first performance. Clues about being a “Malteser” and showing a picture of Patrick Stewart also squared with Sparro, whose father is of Maltese descent and wrote music for Star Trek.

And then there’s the Rooster, who it seems has employed a few techniques through the season to mask his voice but who belted out a powerful, clear-voiced rendition of Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now. Now we’ve heard him sing a few times, I’m inclined to agree with Abbie Chatfield’s guess this week - he sounds a lot like Hugh Sheridan.

So far this season, we’ve seen celebs including Neighbours actor Ryan Moloney, swimming champ Lisa Curry and Aussie actress Pia Miranda revealed as the performers underneath the masks.

Jamie Durie was unmasked on Sunday.

Emma Watkins was revealed on Monday.

And this week, a couple more big Australian stars, with Jamie Durie unveiled on Sunday’s episode (who knew the former Backyard Blitz host was such a good singer?) and ex-Yellow Wiggle Emma Watkins revealed the following night.

Also this week, the debut of this season’s first wildcard contestant, Microphone – who may well be the show’s biggest ‘get’ yet, as all clues point to her being a member of blockbuster US girl group Destiny’s Child.

The Masked Singer continues 7:30pm Sunday on Ten.