Saturday’s episode of ‘The Masked Singer South Africa’ proved once again that you never know who’s hiding behind the mask.
Award-winning investigative journalist Devi Sankaree Govender had viewers and the panel of detectives guessing until the end on who was the person hiding in a Watermelon costume.
Devi was the latest celebrity unmasked on the mystery singing contest.
Initially, her sweet Watermelon case was a tough one to solve. But following her third act on stage, three of the four detectives nailed it.
After the first two rounds of the competition, during which six big-name stars lost the popularity vote, Devi made it to the final ten aiming to keep their identity a secret.
Spoiler alert! 🍉 Watermelon was revealed to be everyone's favourite investigative journalist @Devi_HQ. You gotta admit, putting the tiniest person in one of the biggest mask was a good disguise! #MaskedSingerSA pic.twitter.com/k5w0agGka0
— The Masked Singer South Africa (@MaskedSingerZA) July 15, 2023
However, ‘The Masked Singer South Africa’ reached a whole new level this week.
Instead of the previous face-offs and head-to-heads, the game elevated to the phase where it was every mask for themselves.
Devi’s Watermelon competed against Sunflower, Tree, Elephant and Rhino.
Watermelon pulled out all the stops becoming a “Dancing Queen” with the classic Abba song.
Detectives J’Something, Somizi Mhlongo, Sithelo Shozi and Skhumba Hlophe noted her every move and scrutinised the hints.
The clue package disclosed that Watermelon’s history involved some crime scenes, and she wanted to be a lawyer.
She also showed a photograph of Lionel Richie and noted, “My eldest seedling is where Michael Jordan spends many nights.”
Somizi immediately concluded that Watermelon was his age or slightly younger as Abba was all the rage in the 1970s, meaning she had to be in her 40s at least.
Skhumba interpreted the song entirely differently. In his mind, Watermelon could only be former Miss South Africa Kerishnie Naicker. Skhumba recalled how “Dancing Queen” played when Kerishnie was crowned.
For the first time, each masked celebrity had to choose a physical item to assist the detective panel in completing the puzzle.
Watermelon revealed a Miss South Africa sash, confirming Skhumba’s assumption.
However, J’Something alerted Skhumba that Watermelon explained the item by saying, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
At this stage, J’Something thought Lerato Mbele could be Watermelon because she’s a news anchor with international connections. Somizi named Devi, while Sithelo pointed to journalist Iman Rappetti.
Once the votes were in, Watermelon seemed to be deflated by her fate.
Someone else who was utterly shocked was the show’s host Mpho Popps. He was on Devi’s TV show a while ago, raving about his role on ‘The Masked Singer’, and Devi’s lips were zipped about her involvement.
“The whole reason I wanted to do it is that many people look at me on my show and think, ‘Yas, that chick, she’s hectic, and she’s heavy’. The Masked Singer shows that we all have so many different sides to our personalities,” said Devi.
‘The Masked Singer South Africa’ is screened on SABC3 on Saturdays at 18:30 and SABC 1 at 20:00, with a repeat on SABC 1 on Thursdays at 21:00.