‘The Masked Singer’ Fans Are Positive the Astronaut Is Hunter Hayes
Update, April 29, 2:57 p.m. ET: The internet has been right for quite some time now. Astronaut had to take it off Wednesday night and reveal his true identity. Turns out, the vocally gifted space man was country music star Hunter Hayes.
Original, March 30, 10:57 a.m. ET:
Season 3 of The Masked Singer has narrowed down its talented contestants, and with every performance, we’re one step closer to finding out the identity of everyone on stage. But one character that’s still a mystery is Astronaut. More clues have been revealed and fans are more positive than ever that they already know who’s hiding behind Astronaut’s mask.
Who is Astronaut on The Masked Singer?
Here are a handful of the top clues:
Astronaut sports a gold space suit featuring what appears to be a treble clef.
In his first clue package, Astronaut makes references to being far from home.
He's surrounded by a Hawaiian lei, a skeleton foot, a dark brown broom, and a red toolbox.
For his first performance, Astronaut sang "You Say" by Christian music artist Lauren Daigle.
In the second clue package, he’s called a great captain who knows how to lead a crew.
A red coffee mug and miniature wooden bridge are shown.
There’s a close up of two dice (one black, one red) with fives facing upwards.
One time, Astronaut took a “huge nose dive” and fell on his face in front of thousands of people.
Astronaut and judge Nicole Scherzinger were once at a mall together to celebrate a “huge birthday.”
With the clues mounting up, fans are more and more convinced about their theories of who Astronaut could be.
Hunter Hayes
By far, the most popular theory across The Masked Singer sphere is that Astronaut is country music star Hunter Hayes. And some of the details do seem to line up: Last year, Hunter released an album called Wild Blue, which has a title track that makes all sorts of references to outer space. Meanwhile, the treble clef on Astronaut's suit could be a simple reference to the fact that Hunter's a musician (a singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist — he does it all, really), and the clue package mentions of being "far from home" could refer to the fact that Hunter would be away from his home base in Nashville while taping The Masked Singer in Los Angeles.
Ultimately, though, it was Astronaut's performance of "You Say" that really sealed the deal for many fans: Not only is the song choice on-brand for Hunter (he's opened up about his Christian faith before, including in a 2019 song called "Dear God"), but Astronaut also sounds a heck of a lot like him.
Chris Kirkpatrick
On the other hand, fans are making a case that Astronaut is actually *NSYNC star Chris Kirkpatrick. The 48-year-old is originally from Pennsylvania, all the way across the U.S. from where The Masked Singer is filmed, which is definitely “far from home.” And as the founding member of the iconic boy band, it can be said that Chris “knows how to lead a crew.” To add to this theory, a clue package mentioned the line “bye, bye, bye,” a.k.a. a clear reference to *NSYNC’s famous song.
Carlos PenaVega
Still, there are some fans who think Astronaut might be another crooner — namely, Carlos PenaVega. And it is possible that the Big Time Rush alum is behind Astronaut's mask: He's also a musician (which would explain the treble clef), he's open about his Christian faith (which would make Astronaut's first song choice fitting), and Astronaut's singing voice does sound quite a bit like him.
Plus, some of the smaller clues can be traced back to Carlos. The lei, for example, could refer to his home in Hawaii with wife Alexa PenaVega and their two children. (And yes, he would be quite "far from home" while competing on The Masked Singer!) Meanwhile, the toolbox could refer to his role in 2015 drama Spare Parts. Hmm ...
Needless to say, we might need a few more clues before we can be 100% certain who's underneath that Astronaut helmet — but for now, our bets are on one of these super-smart fan theories being correct.
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