During the second episode of The Masked Singer, fans – Us Weekly staffers included – made their guesses about which celebs were behind each mask. For the singer dressed up as the rabbit, our best guess was ‘NSYNC’s Joey Fatone.
The singer, 41, has been pretty busy promoting his upcoming game show, Common Knowledge, and claims he doesn’t have time to do the Fox reality series.
“I’m here to set the record straight, people! My twitter was blowing up beyond belief,” he told Us Weekly exclusively on Monday, January 14, adding he hadn’t watched The Masked Singer until fans started tweeting clips at him of the rabbit, assuming it was him. “It’s really funny! I’m not the rabbit. I wanted to be a judge! Why wasn’t I called?”
He also commented on fans who thought the rabbit could be Donnie Wahlberg, whose wife, Jenny McCarthy, is a judge on the show. “It would be amazing if that happened,” Fatone told Us of the New Kids on the Block singer.
During the show, the judges and audience are given multiple clues that tease the identity of each singer. For the rabbit, the video teaser was carnival themed – as was Fatone’s 2004 wedding; he revealed he was in a band and stated it’s “gonna be me,” just like hit ‘NSYNC song; and he said he “pops up everywhere.” In 2018, ‘NSYNC opened a “Dirty Pop-Up” shop.
However, one clue that threw many off? The rabbit said he had performed in a mask before, making some think it could be the Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLean, who famously wore a mask in the “Everybody” music video.
Common Knowledge airs on the Game Show Network Monday through Friday at 5:30 p.m. ET.
