'90s heartthrob revealed as Masked Singer 's Walrus talks reuniting with famous siblings and sitcom reboot status
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Warning: This article contains spoilers from Wednesday's episode of The Masked Singer.
Whoomp, there it is!
The Masked Singer's '90s night — which was also the show's milestone 100th episode — finally aired after getting pushed (and pushed, and pushed) back thanks to the World Series, but it did not disappoint. Like the other themed nights before it, the episode was chock-full of throwbacks to the decade of grunge, and kicked off with a performance of "Whoomp! (There It Is)" by '90s rap duo Tag Team, who stuck around as Masked Singer hype men of sorts to boot.
NSYNC's Lance Bass also finally made his debut on the show, though not as a contestant. He and fellow '90s star and close friend Danielle Fishel were on hand to help deliver clues to each of the contestants.
Last week's reigning champs, the Lambs, faced off against two new competitors — the Milkshake and Walrus. Naturally, all three masks had to sing different '90s hits, with Walrus kicking things off with "Two Princes" by Spin Doctors, followed by Milkshake tackling "Jump on It" by Sir Mix-A-Lot, and the Lambs ending things with Alanis Morissette's "Ironic." All the nostalgic performances were pretty great, and the competition was some of the fiercest yet this season.
First to go home was Walrus, which seemed to really devastate Nicole Scherzinger, who needed a consolation hug from Ken Jeong. Rules are rules, though, and the adorable marine mammal had to unmask. Jeong guessed John Stamos, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg gave a convincing and weirdly personal argument that he was Scott Wolf, and Scherzinger went with Mario Lopez. Robin Thicke, though, called it from episodes opening moments, and correctly guessed that Walrus was '90s heartthrob and Blossom star Joey Lawrence (whoa!).
Michael Becker / FOX Walrus performs on 'The Masked Singer' season 8
This meant that Milkshake had to battle it out against the Lambs. Each had to give their own take on "What Is Love" by Haddaway. In the end, the Lambs' more pared down version of the song won over the panelists, who sent them on to join Harp in the semi-finals.
Naturally, Milkshake was forced to unmask and the panelists were mostly way off with their guesses on this one. Jeong, McCarthy-Wahlberg, and Scherzinger all opted to go the rapper route (with guesses of LL Cool J, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and T.I.), and only Thicke was somewhat close with his guess of NFL star DeSean Jackson. Ultimately, Milkshake was revealed to be former NFL star running back Le'Veon Bell.
Next week will start the final round of episodes before the semi-final, and will feature three all-new masks.
In between baseball delays, EW caught up with Lawrence to dish on the '90s, working with his famous brothers, and get the details about a possible reboot of his beloved sitcom.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I know you're in the middle of production, so thanks for taking the time to chat! What are you working on?
JOEY LAWRENCE: No worries. I'm actually out here in Salt Lake City shooting a sequel to our hit Amazon Christmas movie that we did last year with the brothers and I called Mistletoe Mixup. So we're shooting the sequel to that, because it was their number one Christmas movie last year, believe it or not. So we're shooting a Mistletoe 2, which will be out next Christmas.
Speaking of your brothers [actors Matthew and Andrew Lawrence], they've guessed you guys were on The Masked Singer before. Were there any discussions to do it together, or would you have considered doing that?
I certainly would have. Believe it or not, the brothers and I are working together on a lot of things again, for the first time in a long time, which is exciting. Actually, the reason why [Masked Singer] came up is because yes, for years, they've been guessing either myself or it was me and my brothers, like they did earlier this season with the Mummies. So it just made sense. But Fox and myself, [there's] my success on Tubi, which is their streaming service, and then [the movie] Frankie Meets Jack, which is a script that my wife and I wrote, which will be their big kind of romantic comedy for Valentine's Day coming out in 2023, and we just got back from Boston shooting that for a couple months. It's this kind of burgeoning relationship with Fox. So we were able to slot myself into Masked Singer, which we've been trying to do for a couple years now for this week, which is great. And then we have a new show we're working on with Fox, with my brothers and I, for the first time in 17 years. So we're really excited about that and our growing relationship with Fox and all the great people that work there.
In the spirit of '90s week, what is your wildest Hollywood memory from that decade?
Look, the '90s were a great time. We had a lot of technology, but we still had to do a lot of things as human beings and everything wasn't at our fingertips. So we had to get up and do things. Music was great, movies were great. I really feel like as young people we really had it pretty amazing. You know, I look at these kids today, and I have a couple of teenagers. And it's just not as cool as it was. It's just not. And I think that's why there's such a desire and interest in the '90s. Because my kids I know, first of all, they're all wearing Stüssy again, and stovepipe jeans. And I mean, honest to God, like literally all the stuff that my daughters are wearing, at 17 and 13, I mean, that's what we wore — everything, all the brands, it's unbelievable. Diesel with the wide leg jeans, I mean, these things are exploding again. We had all those 25 years ago. I mean, it's crazy. But I think it's because as they're finding all the great '90s movies, they really are starting to realize like, wow, there was a real sort of amazing fabric of material and music for young people that just is not out there today. The sentiment isn't the same. The positive outlook is not the same. Everything's sort of negative now. It's just a different thing for young people, right? And I think that's why there's a real desire and natural migration toward that decade right now for these young people, which is why it's so huge, you know?
Matthew Simmons/Getty Images Joey Lawrence
And, speaking of the '90s, Lance Bass was up there to give some of your clues. Did you have any idea he'd be there?
It's fun, man. I've known Lance for years, and I know all those guys, so it's cool. You know, it's like high school kids you grew up with, and then you see them again. I've seen Lance on and off for years, as well as all the guys from all those groups. Yeah, it was cool. I didn't know he was going to be up there. Everything is secrecy. They make you wear all this garb everywhere you walk, and people aren't even allowed to see your hands. They don't want to be able to see what kind of person you are. It's crazy secretive, but I didn't know he was gonna be up there. It was fun to see him.
What was your favorite part of being on The Masked Singer?
Just performing again. I haven't sang live in 14-15 years, so it was fun to get up there and sing again. It was fun to get the crowd going and just do something a little out of the box for me as of late, exercise those muscles that I haven't used since I was on tour performing 16-17 years ago. And like I said, it's the next step in my growing relationship with Fox, which I'm really excited about.
I have to ask about a potential Blossom reboot. What's the latest update on that?
We're talking about it. There's been a lot of different opinions, a lot of different chefs in the kitchen, if you know what I mean about that. I know that Mayim [Bialik] and I want to do it, so that's 90 percent of it right there. It just depends on exactly what version of it we bring back to the air. And those are the kind of internal conversations that we're having right now. For me, bringing back something for the fans, which is what it would be, I want to give the fans what they want and what I would expect if I saw something like this. I don't want a different version of it. I want something that, obviously is current, and obviously is where we all are today, but something for the fans. It would be all about the fans, and making sure that we give them what they look forward to, since they've been so passionate about wanting it, and I think that we're just trying to figure out what that is between all of us, to be honest with you. But it's in the works, and it's on the books. And I really do hope it happens. In the meantime, looks like the brothers and I are going to be back on TV together for the first time in a long time. And that is also very exciting to a lot of people out there, which makes us feel so lucky, and to be able to revisit this sort of medium in multi-camera as grown men is really going to be exciting for us next year. So, there's a lot of great stuff in the works. And I'm excited about all of it.
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