American Idol alums Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard Unmasked on The Masked Singer
The Beets were one of two acts unmasked on The Masked Singer Wednesday night (May 1). And as fans speculated, and American Idol fans in particular absolutely KNEW, season 2 winner and runner-up, Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard were the mystery celebrities underneath the costumes.
The two singers made their third appearance on the show, having survived the Group B premiere and another episode that introduced a Wildcard. Gumball prevailed, with a performance of Carry on My Wayward Son and a Battle Royale against Beets singing “I Had the Time of My Life.”
Arguably, The Beets were the better vocalists, but Gumball brought all the drama and impressive rangy rock and roll vocals. Oh well! At least this time, Clay and Ruben lost the competition together instead of fighting against each other. The Beets performed Whitney Houston’s “One Moment in Time” as their last performance on The Masked Singer.
The judges–Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong and Rita Ora–were never able to identify The Beets. Initially, they got stuck on the notion that the two were actors or comedians who could sing. When they eventually pivoted to guessing singers, Robin guessed Dan + Shay, while Ken guessed Josh Groban and Brian McKnight, or even more ridiculous: K-Ci and JoJo (Who are cousins to season 3 winner Fantasia!)
The OBVIOUS clues
The clues were obvious to American Idol fans, from suggesting they attracted millions of viewers at tone point, to how the powers that be pitted them against each other, to how they still tour together to this day. Even without hearing a not, the clues were obvious. Clay and Ruben have remained friends for 21 years, and recently finished a year long tour celebrating their 20 year American Idol anniversary. They also mentioned they were both fathers. And in their latest clue package, Masked Singer’s Banana Split made an appearance. That’s season 5 runner-up Katharine McPhee and her husband David Foster. Not only is there an Idol connection, but a familial connection as well. Clay’s teenaged son and Katharine’s toddler boy are first cousins, as Clay’s son’s mother is David Foster’s sister!
On the previous episode last week, The Beets sang I’m So Excited by the Pointer Sisters for Girl Group night. They managed to advance to the next week without having to sing off, just like during the Group B premiere.
The two kicked off their run on the show for Wizard of Oz night with a lovely version of Michael Buble’s “Home.” The judges gushed. Ken called them the “new front runners.” Initially I pegged them to at LEAST make the Quarterfinals and quite possibly the finals! Clay and Ruben are good singers. But it wasn’t meant to be. Remember that there is no viewer voting. The “audience” votes for the first round winner, and then the panel ultimately picks the winner of the night from the Battle Royale. I’m not saying the show is fixed but. Without the accountability that viewer voting brings, producers can do whatever the heck they want.
Clay and Ruben on the latest Fox era American Idol alums cast on The Masked Singer
The Masked Singer LOVES to cast former FOX era American Idol contestants. None have won the show, however. Season 5’s Chris Daughtry (Rottweiler Season 2) and Season 7’s David Archuleta (Macaw, Season 9) came closest, finishing in the number two spot. Other American Idol alums who have competed on The Masked Singer include the aforementioned Katharine McPhee with her husband David Foster (Banana Splits, Season 6) and Tori Kelly as Seahorse on season 4.
“Ruben has never been cut from anything. I’m used to it!”
In a post-boot interview with FOX, Clay joked, “Ruben has never been cut from anything. I’m used to it. I’ll teach you how to do it!” Ruben said he had fun and thought competing on The Masked Singer would be “something cool to do…even though we were root vegetables, it was still spectacular!” He added, “I just enjoyed the whole process of it.” Clay called their Beets costume “The most adorable costume to be in.”
Clay called the show, “Silly, and it’s escapism singing Whitney Houston dressed up as a smiling Beet. It’s not something either one of us thought we’d do in our lives!”
And then Ruben plugs their show, “If you feel like being entertained by the same foolishness that you just saw on television, we do this,” he said of their on stage act. “This is the thing that we’ve done forever. Me and this guy are on the road. Come and have a good time.”
“So much about The Masked Singer has parallels to Idol”
About singing “One Moment in Time” Clay told Billboard, “But the lyrics obviously relate to our time on Idol and how that show changed our lives and it was interesting to do it on the same network where we started and on stage in front of a studio audience. So much about The Masked Singer has parallels to Idol — even though so much is completely opposite and different — but it was cool to re-live that 21 years after we lived it on Idol.”
Ruben told Billboard that he was disappointed to leave The Masked Singer, “I want to win everything!” he said. Clay, on the other hand, doesn’t think of The Masked Singer as a singing competition. “It’s a singing show, but it’s only marginally a competition because there are so many other factors to it,” he said. “I was not bothered by losing and I know damn well that we sang the living s–t out of that Whitney Houston song!” Also, Clay is accustomed to losing, after coming in second place on both American Idol and The Celebrity Apprentice in 2013.
However, both singers agreed that competing on American Idol was scarier than competing on The Masked SInger. Clay said, “Obviously it was scary every week because you’re worried you’re going to go home because there’s stakes involved and it’s your life and your career. On Masked Singer we didn’t have that concern at all.”
