The Masked Singer finally reveals Rudy Giuliani: Here's how it all goes down

Warning: This article contains spoilers about Wednesday night's episode of The Masked Singer.

From onstage poop jokes to wildly controversial reveals, tonight's episode of The Masked Singer might have been its most bonkers one yet (and that's saying something).

In it, the final group of five contestants was finally revealed — The Prince, Baby Mammoth, Jack in the Box, Queen Cobra, and Space Bunny. Early on, the episode teased "the biggest event in Masked Singer history," and, well, they weren't wrong.

Most of the episode went off like a typical Masked Singer one would — performances, guesses, clue packages, etc. Baby Mammoth even brought some comedic relief by saying on national television, "They told me I could do anything I wanted out here except poop on the stage and so I'm going to take [it as] a very big win, because although you can poop in the circus, you are not allowed on this show."

From the start, though, something was different about Jack in the Box. For a reason that is never explained, he performed "Bad to the Bone" before his clue package played, as opposed to after as is standard. Despite a very obvious and groan-worthy Four Seasons clue pointing to his identity, none of the panelists correctly guessed Rudy Giuliani (or maybe let themselves think it was even possible). Their guesses ranged from Joe Pesci (Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg's), to Robert Duvall (Robin Thicke's), to Elon Musk (Ken Jeong's), to Al Roker (Nicole Scherzinger's).

Viewers who paid attention to the news in January might recall that Jeong reportedly stormed off the set because he "felt disrespected " and was "livid" after a contestant was revealed to be Giuliani, the past New York City mayor and personal attorney for former President Donald Trump. At the time, the news about Giuliani — who was banned from practicing law in New York after making false statements about Trump's 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden — sparked major social media backlash and renewed conversations about the implications of having controversial contestants on family-friendly reality shows that often offer an image rehab of sorts. (For the record, this isn't the first time a controversial Republican has appeared on the show — season 3 featured a rapping Sarah Palin dressed as Bear.)

Fans who were hoping the backlash would lead to Fox cutting the episode or reveal or swapping out Giuliani for someone else were disappointed Wednesday night when the politico was very much revealed to be Jack in the Box. When a shocked Nick Cannon unveiled the singer's identity, the panel reacted in varying ways. "No way! Oh my God, I had no idea," McCarthy-Wahlberg excitedly replied. Thicke managed to say, "This is definitely something I never would have guessed."

Jeong, at least the way it's edited in the episode, didn't storm out right away. The usually energetic comedian appeared stricken upon the reveal as Scherzinger says to him, "Is that Robert Duvall?" Jeong can be heard very sadly saying, "No, that's not Robert Duvall."

"Mr. Giuliani, with all of the controversy that's surrounding you right now I think it surprises us all that you're here on The Masked Singer," Cannon said. "Me too, me too," Giuliani replied, explaining that he did the show to teach his new granddaughter that "you should try everything, even things that are completely unlike you and unlikely. And I couldn't think of anything more unlike me and unlikely than this." Plus, he said, he's been a TMS fan for years and thought it would be fun. "I don't get to have a lot of fun."

When Cannon did the usual after-reveal banter with the contestant on stage, Jeong crossed his arms and looked very upset. McCarthy-Wahlberg and Scherzinger played along in the usual spirit of the show, asking Giuliani questions about his clue package. Cannon suggested the Borat 2 star did the show for his granddaughter, and Scherzinger offered that his "family is gonna love it."

It wasn't until the show moved to its customary final performance from the unmasked contestant that Jeong took action. "I'm done" he said to someone off-camera (possibly Thicke) before leaving the stage early. Initial reports had claimed that after Jeong stormed off, Thicke followed him to check on him, but that wasn't shown in the episode that aired. However, as Giuliani gave his final performance, only Scherzinger and McCarthy-Wahlberg were shown dancing along so there is a chance Thicke had also exited.

Giuliani was not made available for interviews related to his unmasking.

More Masked Singer insanity continues next week on Fox at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

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