‘The Masked Singer' Sneak Peek: Ken Jeong Is Convinced Billy Ray Cyrus Is Mad Scientist Monster
In Us Weekly's exclusive sneak peek of the Wednesday, April 30, episode of The Masked Singer, the judges are able to receive a costume clue for one contestant still in the competition.
'What do you want to know about the costume clue?' host Nick Cannon shares in the preview. 'Well, here's an orange right there.'
Judge Jenny McCarthy quickly gets her brain going and tries to see if there's a pattern from previous seasons.
The Masked Singer's Paparazzo Got Vocal Coaching From His Famous Girlfriend: She Seemed 'Impressed'
'Whenever we see an orange or something like that, I think of Florida,' she says. 'Maybe someone from Florida Georgia Line.'
Nick, 44, quickly provided another clue to the judges by revealing Mad Scientist Monster's name tag has a picture frame with two bees.
Instead of focusing on the creatures, Rita Ora views the two bees as two B's like basketball.
'Is there an orange basketball team anywhere?' she asks her fellow judges including Robin Thicke.
To the surprise of many, Ken, 55, doesn't waste any time and quickly shares a very specific guest out loud in hopes of solving one of the biggest mysteries of the season.
'Real talk, is this really a former athlete or is this someone famous who maybe had an athletic background?' he asks. 'I'm just saying Mad Scientist Monster is Billy Ray Cyrus!'
While viewers will have to tune in and see if Ken is right, Billy Ray, 63, certainly has been making headlines. On Easter Sunday, Elizabeth Hurley confirmed she was dating the 'Achy Breaky Heart' singer by sharing a PDA photo of the twosome via Instagram.
Cyrus also addressed the romance during an interview on Apple Music Country's The Ty Bentli Show.
'She's a great human being,' he said. 'If all we ever were [are] the friends that we are [now], I would take that. She's so impressively brilliant. She reminds me a lot of Dolly Parton. She's a very smart businesswoman.'
Dating aside, The Masked Singer judges have suspected that Mad Scientist Monster could be a musician with some country roots.
The Masked Singer's Yorkie Revealed as [Spoiler]: 'I Had Big Boots and a Heavy Head'
Ever since his debut on March 26, the Mad Scientist Monster has been rumored to be everyone from Kane Brown to Blake Shelton.
After Mad Scientist Monster sang "The Scientist" by Coldplay, the panel even questioned if he could be Jelly Roll.
All will be revealed when The Masked Singer airs on Fox Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Salma Hayek pays tribute to late 'Fools Rush In' costar Matthew Perry on his birthday: 'Thinking of you today'
The "Frida" actress shared memories from her onscreen romance with the "Friends" star on what would have been his 56th birthday. Salma Hayek is remembering her late rom-com costar, Matthew Perry. The Frida actress shared a tribute to her Fools Rush In castmate in an Instagram post on Tuesday, which would have been the Friends star's 56th birthday. "Thinking of you today Matthew," Hayek wrote in her caption, alongside the Spanish translation, "Pensando en ti hoy, Matthew." The post featured a still of Perry and Hayek (who was clutching a small dog) from the 1997 film, as well as a short clip from the movie in which Isabel (Hayek) brings her new boyfriend Alex (Perry) to a large family gathering. "This is a family dinner?" Alex asks upon seeing the size of the party. "I guess a lot of people couldn't make it," Isabel responds. Hayek previously memorialized her late costar, who died in October 2023 from the acute effects of ketamine, shortly after his passing. "Two days ago, I woke up to the shocking news that Matthew Perry is no longer with us. It's taken me a couple of days to process this profound sadness," Hayek wrote on Instagram at the time. "There is a special bond that happens when you share dreams with someone, and together you work towards them." Fools Rush In tells the story of a New York architect and a Nevada photographer who share a whirlwind romance after a one-night stand leads to an unplanned pregnancy. In his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry remembered Hayek frequently sharing a "very elaborate and lengthy idea" about how they should approach their scenes together, but noted that "her long-winded ideas weren't always helpful" in the end. "There's one scene in which I'm professing my love for her," Perry recalled in his memoir. "She suggested that we don't look at each other — rather, we should look out at our future together. After listening to this nonsense for about twenty minutes, I finally said: 'Listen, Salma,' I said, 'I'm telling you I love you in this scene. You look wherever you want, but I'm going to be looking at you.'"However, Perry remained fond of the project decades after its release, describing it as "probably my best movie" in his book. The actor said that he was particularly touched by advice he received from the film's director, Andy Tennant. "I was bouncing around doing my funny little things, and [Tennant] would take me aside and say, 'You don't have to do that. You're interesting enough to watch without doing that,'" Perry remembered in his book. "That line of thinking allowed him to pull out of me one of the best performances of my career. Could this be a different way of saying Matty, you're enough, the words I've been longing to hear my entire life?" Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tamar Braxton Narrates Shocking Near Death Experience: 'Pray For Me For Real'
had a close shave with death, according to her latest post. The musician took her fans through a recent experience that nearly took her life a few days ago, amid gratitude for her life and friends for their timely intervention. Tamar Braxton has lived a life of surviving several ups and downs, including a suicide attempt and a previous death scare, which had her battling breathing problems. Tamar Braxton: 'I Don't Even Know What Happened To Me' "Thank you, God, for waking me up today," Braxton penned on her Instagram story as she dove straight into how she fared last weekend and survived one of the worst periods of her life. Admitting that she struggled to write the lengthy I paragraph on her Instagram Story, Braxton added that she barely has any strength to respond to everyone calling her to ask how she was faring. The singer explained that she was found in a pool of blood by her friend at her home on Sunday. She also suffered a face injury, which has gotten worse as the days advance. According to her: "I fractured my nose, lost some teeth, and mobility. The way I look at life now is totally different. As my health is on the mend, my mental journey begins." The 48-year-old urged her fans to pray for her, citing that she had no idea what had happened to her before the alleged fall. The Musician Spoke On A Health Scare Three Christmases Ago This is not the first time Braxton has gone public with some of her health struggles. In 2022, Independent noted that she revealed that she had to be rushed to the hospital a few days before Christmas. Braxton noted that tragedy struck during a shopping session with her friends for the festivities when she suddenly began experiencing breathlessness in the middle of the day. "This isn't an attention post... this is an ATTENTION post," Braxton wrote, stating that the very next day, she had to be taken to the hospital via ambulance. She had to be placed on oxygen, and she was beyond petrified thinking "God was taking me home cause I could not breathe and my chest was on FIRE!!" She confirmed that she indeed caught the flu, which felt worse than COVID. Braxton explained that her condition had her on five different medications, as she urged everyone to stay indoors for the holiday season. According to her, "I wasn't around a lot of people and have NO IDEA where it came from... enjoy y'all holiday AT HOME... you don't want this." Braxton Chose To Make A Change After A Suicide Attempt The media personality looked back on such a dark time in her life, when her romantic partner found her unresponsive at home and rushed her for treatment. As noted by PEOPLE, the star recalled that the time represented one of the darkest times in her life. "I didn't see how I was going to come out on the other side. I didn't even know that there was another side. But I chose to change my life," Braxton explained. She added that being a regular in front of cameras at the time made her anxiety peak, thus causing pressure on her mental health. Her previous experience of sexual assault in 2018 was also traumatic for her, as it continued showing up in several ways to haunt her memory. Braxton also battled the aftermath of the fallout between herself and her ex, David Adefeso, and her status as a single mother when she filmed "Get Ya Life!" "After a scene, I'd watch it back, and it would be nothing like how it went down," she says. "They started piecing words together and sentences. I just thought that wasn't necessary," the actress shared. The 'Let Me Know' Singer's Son Is The Source Of Her Strength While thoughts clouded her head, one light kept things hopeful for the singer, and that was her son. Braxton expressed her resolve not to ever pose as disappointment in her son and, unfortunately, felt like committing suicide was the best way to ensure that. Braxton confessed that she felt uneasy about letting her son play with friends because of the negative portrayal of her on television. The singer finally decided to get help and not take the easy way out by ending everything. "I know now that that probably would have destroyed him, that the best life that I can set for him is to be the example, get counseling, and show him how to communicate," she explained. She revealed her dedication to becoming the best mom and person to her children without the harrowing presence of a docuseries in her life to ruin her happiness. Tamar Braxton Is Temporarily Pulling The Plug On Romance Till Her Son Is An Adult In a new interview, the award-winning singer explained her thought process behind taking time to introduce any partner to her son, Logan. She shared that the idea to keep her romantic escapades away from him was to protect him and not leave him dealing with abandonment issues. Braxton affirmed that the overwhelming urge to connect with others often overtook her desire for isolation. The singer revealed that her mantra for dating is to do it with intent, and it has increasingly become impossible for anyone to offer that these days. She humorously added her plans to wait on the lord till he sends an angel man her way for a relationship. The singer and her ex-husband, Vincent Herbert, share a son from their 11-year marriage, which ended in 2019. Wishing Tamar Braxton healing from what happened to her.

Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
Anajak Thai's renovation uncovers relics as the restaurant readies to reopen this weekend
On June 30 Justin Pichetrungsi posted news on his restaurant's Instagram account that drew thousands of responses in shock, dismay and support: He would be closing his generational family business, Anajak Thai Cuisine, for nearly two months. What followed was a complete renovation that uncovered family relics and reimagined the space that helped raise Pichetrungsi, and catapulted the chef and his Sherman Oaks restaurant to international fame. 'In order to preserve something,' he posted, 'you have to change it.' The neighborhood Thai restaurant, founded 44 years ago by husband-and-wife team Ricky and Rattikorn Pichetrungsi, served the Sherman Oaks community for decades. But when their son, Justin, took over the restaurant several years ago, his own vision began to take hold: new dishes, new formats for enjoying them, an expanded wine program and a new energy. Its generational blend of old and new helped it garner accolades including being named the L.A. Times Restaurant of the Year in 2022. That same year, Justin Pichetrungsi received the title of best chef in California from the James Beard Foundation. If all goes as planned and Anajak reopens on Friday it will feature entirely new equipment — except, that is, for his father's original three-hole wok station, which has been refurbished. His mother, still a fixture in the restaurant, will finally have her own workstation dedicated to her famous mango sticky rice. Guests will find an additional dining room, an entirely new and more open kitchen, an overhaul of the original dining space, his grandfather's art, a repaving of the alfresco area (the venue for its popular Thai Taco Tuesdays) and more. It all started with the dish pit. Anajak ran through a lot of plates, flatware and wine glasses by hosting 250 guests a night. Washing them all in one three-compartment sink located alongside the cook line, wok station and grill finally proved untenable. Pichetrungsi first asked where he might be able to move the sink, and it all unraveled from there: He'd have to place it where the bathrooms were. To offer guests new bathrooms, he would have to renovate and open the adjacent wine storage room. And if a wall would have to come down in order to renovate, he might as well redo it all. 'The hardest part of the business is the organization part of it, not the innovation,' he told The Times. 'Innovation is so fun: You dream of new dishes, new ways to talk to your customers and things like that. But with all the behind-the-scenes stuff, people never saw how broken it was in order to make the show go on.' In January the staff began in small phases, such as moving the contents of the wine storage room to the office and storage space in the alley. Then on July 1, construction began in earnest. On the first day, the staff passed a sledgehammer between themselves, each taking a swing at a wall, including Ricky Pichetrungsi, who attacked it from his wheelchair. 'Everyone on the team has a hand in breaking that wall down, which was a beautiful moment,' Justin Pichetrungsi said. As they renovated, they uncovered Anajak relics: a box of old celebrity photos and headshots of those who've visited through the years, the original, grease-coated cash register, old menus, branded matchbooks and an entire mirror his father built walls around during his own renovations 30 years ago. 'I was hoping to find money, but unfortunately… ,' Pichetrungsi laughed. Pichetrungsi, a trained artist who formerly worked at Disney Imagineering, wanted to make changes for a long time — longer than he'd known he wanted to become a chef or take over the family restaurant. While revisiting his sketchbooks from years prior, Pichetrungsi found a list. He was flipping through a book he hadn't used in a decade and saw various notes of changes he would make to Anajak. 'I realized that a lot of my decision making in the last couple of years has really been about how to get to this specific point,' he said. 'A point where I can have a kitchen that I was happy to work in — not that I wasn't happy to work in my father's kitchen, but it was very uncomfortable — and it wasn't about my uncomfortability. It is and it was about developing a space that would feel in line with who we wanted to be.' Pichetrungsi was still drawing and teaching when he began helping his parents keep their restaurant afloat after the 2008 economic crisis. But in 2019, after his father suffered a stroke, he left Disney and took over Anajak full-time, working alongside his mother, his aunt and occasionally his father. In a bid to once again keep the family business alive, he pivoted during the pandemic, flipping the vacant alley space to host Thai Taco Tuesdays, a wildly popular weekly event with lines around the block. Then, he pushed its boundaries even further with a constantly evolving Thai tasting menu. When Pichetrungsi began cooking at the restaurant there were eight staff members, including himself and his relatives. Now there are nearly 60. Near the center of the restaurant, Ricky Pichetrungsi's former office — which once served as a de facto daycare center but became storage for pots and pans — will be home to a new climate-controlled wine cellar overseen by wine director Ian Krupp. The construction team works six days a week, beginning at 5 a.m., with multiple crews overlapping. They've installed a new oven hood, a floating kitchen pass, new plumbing, new electrical systems and new banquettes in the dining room. The new dining room, which the staff calls the East Wing, will offer two dozen seats and a hallway to the new bathrooms. Oil paintings and watercolors by Pichetrungsi's late grandfather were flown in from Thailand. The old, now-gone carpet, as well as a tarnished 'butt print' section of the wall where for years guests and staff leaned while waiting for the restrooms, are also being framed. 'It's gross, but it's art made by millions of people,' Pichetrungsi said. He alerted the restaurant's staff throughout the last year, giving time to make plans or find temporary employment for the month and a half of closed business. Many took vacation. Some staged at other restaurants. Some are working through construction, writing the restaurant's first official training manuals. Pichetrungsi declined to share the cost of Anajak's overhaul but said, 'It'll be a lot of pad Thais.' Pichetrungsi's parents raised concerns about the renovations: Think of the cost. Did it all really need to be done? But they've come to appreciate the changes. 'They're not as nostalgic about it as I am,' Justin Pichetrungsi said. 'They've seen it so much, they're okay letting it go. But I wasn't able to. I was here during the demo day, and it was a hard time for me.' As different as the restaurant will look, much of it will remain the same. The Kobe basketball jersey will still be hanging over the dining room. Thai Taco Tuesday is set to resume immediately, and the restaurant's omakase will return as well, albeit at a later date. With so much more kitchen space, new dishes might crop up at Anajak, too. Today, Pichetrungsi's notebooks are filled with sketches of floor plans, the views from various tables, the new server station and dishes he might like to execute in the new kitchen: The addition of a second deep fryer could one day mean whole fried fish. There could be enough space at the pass to shuck oysters and build seafood towers. Or maybe, he joked, these are the changes guests will see in another decade, when he decides to shake things up all over again.



