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Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Masked Singer' spoilers: Who is Mad Scientist Monster?
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Originally published March 19, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. PT; updated April 23, 2025 at 5:55 p.m. PT Mad Scientist Monster made his debut on the March 26 episode of The Masked Singer Season 13 as a member of Group C. The giant lab wizard's first song on Fox's reality TV show was "Unwell" and he had the four panelists (Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Ken Jeong, and Rita Ora) guessing such famous names as Luke Bryan, Luke Combs, Blake Shelton. More from GoldDerby For "Boy Band Night," Mad Scientist Monster sang "I Swear" and the judges name-dropped Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, and Keith Urban. When the Lucky 6 merged and he sang "There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back," the flustered panelists added Kenny Chesney and Trace Adkins to the mix. On "Soundtrack of My Life Night," Mad Scientist Monster sang "The Scientist" and had the panelists guessing Gary LeVox of Rascal Flatts, Kane Brown, and Jelly Roll. But who is Mad Scientist Monster? If you're looking for The Masked Singer spoilers and clues, you've come to the right place! Read on for everything to know about this contestant, including which famous celebrity we think is hiding underneath the mask. Gold Derby's official guess for Mad Scientist Monster is ... Brian Kelley from the Grammy-nominated country group Florida Georgia Line! Don't believe us? Let's examine all of the clues so far, one by one: Photo credit:Audio Clues Here is what Mad Scientist Monster had to say about himself on Week 1: "Becoming the Mad Scientist Monster fits perfectly for me because you have to be a little bit crazy, keep experimenting, and reinventing yourself — which is why I'm here. Sometimes in life you think you have the perfect equation — that things will be simple. I was on the path to become the best in my field. My skills made the scouts go wild. It seemed like everybody wanted to recruit me to their team. But when it was time for my chance, everything combusted. They sidelined me. I about lost my mind, but in the chaos a new experiment bubbled to the surface. You see, for every action there is a reaction. My reaction changed the world. I found my purpose. So yeah, it turns out I'm not crazy. I'm just a little mad. So stay awhile because there's a high probability I'll melt your heart." Kelley played college baseball at Daytona State College and Florida State University. He was even scouted by a few pro teams. When he began spending more time on the bench than playing on the field, the aspiring artist filled the void by writing songs and eventually pursued music full time. In Week 2, Mad Scientiest Monster proclaimed: "Everybody loves a hunky boy-bander, but there's more beneath the frosted tip surface — at the core boy bands are about chemistry. I know a little something about that. When I met my boo, it was a festive fall evening, gathered around a full Friendsgiving table. When our hands brushed passing the cranberry sauce, sparks flew. I swear, right then and there I knew I'd marry that girl someday. But seasons passed, until one sweltering summer day we reconnected. I serenaded her until her bunsens were burnin'. I made her a promise I'd never leave her side — for better or worse. Now here's an epic boy band song for that woman I made a promise to — my wife." Kelley met his wife, Brittney, at a Thanksgiving party while they were both dating other people. Years later, they met again after moving on from their previous relationships and sparks flew. In the Group C finals, Mad Scientist Monster let everyone know: "I chose the 2010s because they were lit. Electric cars hit the roads and smart phones hit the stores. And, it's one of the best decades of my career. It seemed like I could conquer the world. I won every award possible except that Nobel Prize. But I didn't do it alone, and while we had a very good run together, it didn't last forever. We had very different theories on life. I wanted to explore new avenues and keep our grand experiment going. But we never tested that hypothesis, so I ventured out on my own. At first I was, well, mad! But life rolls on — and once I went out on my own — I found that I quite liked that I was in control of my results. Now, I realize I learned a major lesson: Sometimes chemistry changes — and that's OK. Not everybody's going to love you — and that's OK, too. As long as you love yourself." As part of the duo Florida Georgia Line, Kelley and his bandmate, Tyler Hubbard, released their first EP, Anything Like Me, in 2010, before their first studio album, Here's to the Good Times, debuted in 2012. Over the next seven years, the pair racked up a slew of accolades, including ACM, CMA, American Music, Billboard, CMT, and People's Choice awards. In 2022, Kelley and Hubbard decided to split and pursue their own solo careers. When the Lucky 6 performed, Mad Scientist Monster shared even more personal information: "If you've been doing your research, you'll know I've basically told you everything about me. I've played sports, I love my wife, and I didn't get here alone. And while you guys are close to solving the equation, there are still some holes in your theories because — spoiler alert — I am not Keith Urban. But, we have shared a stage together." There aren't many clues we haven't already dissected here, but we can confirm Kelley has performed alongside Keith Urban (click here to see them singing at CMA Fest in 2014). On "Soundtrack of My Life Night," Mad Scientist Monster's wife shared this about her furry husband: "I am so thrilled that my monster has made it this far. But secretly, me and the babies do miss him. He keeps us safe and sound, and that's important to me, because growing up I didn't have that. I was orphaned when I was a teenager. With no family stability, I became my own parent and my own protector. When I met Mad Scientist Monster, I didn't know how to be loved. I didn't think I deserved it, but he was patient with me. He knew I was a little broken from my past and wanted to help me rebuild — piece by piece. So I helped him too. I was an audience of one while he worked on his first huge single. I've done everything to support our dream. Honey, I came to life when you came into mine. Now go out there and share your talent with the world." Kelley's wife, Brittney, has publicly stated she was orphaned at age 17 and struggled with depression. SEE 'The Masked Singer': Top 21 most famous celebrities of all time Visual Clues On-screen hints during Mad Scientist Monster's video packages included the following: baseball speed sensor, a fish tank, a grandfather clock, a sandcastle, a cruise ship, the Sun from Season 4 (connection to LeAnn Rimes?), a pick-up truck, and a chalkboard that said "Love Yourself." The baseball reference once again nods to Kelley's time as a collegiate athlete. The fish tank is a reference to his 2021 single, "Fish All Day." The cruise ship is a nod to Florida Georgia Line's 2012 hit, "Cruise." The sandcastle could simply be a shoutout to all of his beach-themed projects, like his song "Sunday Service in the Sand" or his album Sunshine State of Mind. That truck in the clue package is a clue about Florida Georgia Line's song "New Truck" and "Love Yourself" is a line from their duet with Bebe Rexha, "Meant to Be." On the Lucky 6 night a Tennessee flag appeared on stage. Although Kelley is originally from Florida, the country superstar has certainly spent plenty of time in Nashville. On "Soundtrack of My Life Night" we saw a calendar for Aug. 2025 with the words "Summer Break" written on it. We also saw a chess board with nothing but knight pieces on it. Kelley is known for his summer jams and beach party anthems. We haven't quite figured out that chess clue though — help us out in the comments! In-Person Clues Following his performance of "Unwell," Mad Scientist Monster said, "You know what? This is so important to me because it gives me an opportunity to reintroduce myself to fans in a way that they've never seen before." Kelley has been reintroducing himself to fans as a solo artist since Florida Georgia Line disbanded in 2022. He's certainly never performed as a giant purple monster! Nick Cannon's T-shirt cannon was used in Week 2 to shoot Mad Scientist Monster merch at the judges. "It's an honor to have won the same award as both Backstreet Boys and BTS." Like Backstreet Boys and BTS, Kelley was a member of a best-selling music group: Florida Georgia Line. They even performed "Everybody" with BSB on CMT Crossroads and released a single together, titled "God, Your Mama, and Me." The Masked Singer time machine shared that Mad Scientist Monster performed with someone from Season 4. Kelley sang with Backstreet Boy Nick Carter (Season 4's Crocodile) on CMT Crossroads. During his quick-fire Q&A with the panelists Mad Scientist Monster revealed that he drives a Ford Raptor, has won "many, many" awards for singing, and is "way younger" than Ken (who is 55). Kelley drives a truck, has definitely won his fair share of awards, and is 39 years old. Who do you think is hiding underneath the Mad Scientist Monster costume on The Masked Singer Season 13? Sound off down in the comments section and join the discussion in our reality TV forums. SIGN UP for Gold Derby's free newsletter with latest predictions Best of GoldDerby Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article.
Russia Today
02-03-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Trump has no idea where most of the Ukraine aid went – and honestly, who does?
Donald Trump is pulling Ukraine aid numbers out of thin air – or maybe somewhere less polite – but let's be real, does anyone actually know what's going on? The US president keeps saying that the reason Washington wants dibs on Ukrainian natural resources is because 'the United States has put up far more aid for Ukraine than any other nation, hundreds of billions of dollars,' and that 'we're in there for about $350 billion. I think that's a pretty big contribution.' But ABC News' fact checking says that the figure is actually closer to $182 billion, which also includes the cost of making weapons and 'restocking US weapons supplies.' In other words, a lot of that 'aid' never even left the US. That's the dirty little secret regarding all of this so-called aid for Ukraine. There's no shortage of casual observers who believe that every dollar of committed foreign aid for Kiev actually went to the country to rescue kittens and kids. Trump keeps saying he doesn't know where all the aid even went. Well, join the club. What's undeniable is that much of it helped paid for old US weaponry to be promptly turned into expensive fireworks by Russian missiles, and for US weapons makers to churn out some shiny new ones to replace them, courtesy of the American taxpayer. Washington might as well have just shipped over a giant stack of cash with a sign that said, 'For target practice.' Anyway, Zelensky is now sounding like a guy who doesn't think that he should have to pay for this whole movie, now that it turns out that it sucks. So he's at the ticket booth just as the closing credits are about to roll, arguing with management and haggling over whether any cash that actually made it into Ukrainian hands should actually be considered a debt or just written off as a donation – or 'grant.' 'When it is said that Ukraine received $200 billion to support the army during the war – that's not true. I don't know where all that money went. Perhaps it's true on paper with hundreds of different programs – I won't argue, and we're immensely grateful for everything. But in reality, we received about $76 billion. It's significant aid, but it's not $200 billion,' Zelensky said. 'We should not recognize grants as debts. I agreed with Biden that this is a grant. A grant is not a debt. We're not going to pay back grants.' We're talking about a lot of money. You'd think that someone would've at least written down the actual deal on a bar napkin or something. Zelensky apparently doesn't have much of a clue where all the cash went. Trump clearly doesn't know. Maybe check near the $10,000 hammers on the defense procurement lists – or for a new yacht somewhere in a tropical tax haven that was recently christened as 'Not Laundered, I Swear.' Last year, the Ukrainian security service found that officials were working with Ukrainian weapons companies to embezzle $40 million earmarked for mortar shells. A couple of years ago, the New York Times found that almost a billion dollars in weapons contracts had missed their delivery dates, and the cash just kind of… disappeared. Like a rabbit in a magic show that goes into the hat and never comes back out – but everyone still claps because it's 'for Ukraine' and if you don't cheer for all this, then you may as well just pack up and move to Moscow already. Trump keeps trying to say that Kiev's European backers deserve fewer post-war spoils because they didn't invest as much, which isn't true. The EU is too stupid to have caught onto the scam early enough to have spent most of the aid on itself. French President Emmanuel Macron interrupted Trump, grabbing his hand to explain during his recent White House visit that the EU is holding Russian assets in Europe hostage as 'collateral for the loan' that they've given Ukraine. The EU is actually going a lot further than that and is stealing the interest on those assets to give to Ukraine – 'borrowing' Russia's credit card in order to lavish gifts on Zelensky. The EU's current chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, is a big fan of the idea of stealing those Russian assets outright. Macron, with Trump sitting beside him and the global press barely bothering to react, announced that Russia can have its frozen assets back – right after it forks over a giant pile of cash to the EU when the war wraps up. Oh sure, that doesn't sound like a shakedown at all. A shining moment for capitalism – with a slight hostage negotiation vibe. European leaders made a pilgrimage to Kiev recently to support Zelensky on the third anniversary of the day the conflict escalated and he started dressing like he collects cover charges at the local strip joint. It's also the third full year of the West tossing money at him like he's also personally giving them private shows in the VIP room. Britain is offering to tuck another $5.7 billion in military aid into his cargo pants for 'military aid' this year, much of which may or may not, in reality, just end up in the pockets of the British military industrial complex. The 'Ukraine aid' cash laundering machine is now such a prominent feature of European democracy that it's what caused Germany to recently require premature national elections. Chancellor Olaf Scholz had wanted to hand over another €3 billion in military aid 'for Ukraine' to the benefit of the German stock exchange's star student, weapons-maker Rheinmetall, but his finance minister wanted instead to just hand over some of the old junk in their military attic to Kiev for which they could bill Brussels and get some of their own donated cash 'for Ukraine' back from the giant EU recycled weapons slush fund. But because the hand-me-downs were long range Taurus missiles capable of hitting Russia, the same Ukrainian troops that were already FUBARing German tanks by attempting to 'repair' them could do some real World War III grade damage if left unsupervised. The disagreement ultimately blew up the traffic light coalition. Meanwhile, the EU just keeps throwing cash at the Ukraine issue like gambling addicts at a rigged casino, convinced that the jackpot is just one more bet away. It turns out that Brussels also gave Poland a pile of money, generously and unwittingly donated by EU taxpayers: €114 million, to be exact. Warsaw was supposed to buy power generators for Ukrainians with it. But the EU's anti-fraud team just reported a few days ago that some of the generators were overpriced by 40%. Sounds like a bunch of Poles figured that 'surge pricing' can be profitably defined as just inflating the cost of power equipment. The EU says that the Polish government agency managing the program was about as cooperative with their investigation as a cat at bath time, but the anti-fraud office worked with Polish prosecutors and Warsaw's central anti-corruption bureau, and now wants €91 million of it back. Good luck with that. On the upside, another €22 million was caught and saved before it could fall into the abyss like the rest. So maybe Polish officials know what they're talking about. One former Polish deputy minister, Piotr Kulpa, said that corruption is kind of a tango with both supplier and recipient nations grooving together, and specifically brought up the two trillion that the US basically set on fire in Afghanistan as an example. Which would explain why some political opposition figures in France, for example, are starting to wonder if maybe one of the reasons why this whole 'defend Ukraine' thing isn't going too well is because the money isn't actually going towards that. Back in 2023, several EU nations accused Estonia of treating EU military aid reimbursements like a personal ATM. And guess who was Estonian prime minister back then? That's right – current EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. Maybe she studied pricing math at the same school where Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbock learned geometry? Over in the Czech Republic, the media reported that the 'Help Ukraine' foundation had received a grant of about €800,000 to help Ukrainian refugees to learn Czech. The Czech prosecutor's office claims that by helping Ukrainians, the founder of this NGO was rather focused on helping ONE Ukrainian in particular – himself, charging him with embezzlement. As for where Trump might want to start looking if he wants to figure out where all the aid to Ukraine went, he could always just start with the Pentagon Inspector General's report from a year ago, which found that '59% of the total value' of defense articles provided to Ukraine 'remained delinquent.' That would be 'delinquent' as in 'missing.' Weapons not actually showing up on the battlefield like a kid who never shows up to class. It's no wonder spending even more money is a tough sell right now stateside. Particularly when it doesn't seem that much has changed since back in 2022 when the scams were so flagrant that they were happening right under the nose of observers in Kiev. But then again, what do you expect when USAID, the supposed gold standard for foreign aid, and which is now being subjected to a proctology exam by the Trump administration, once reportedly dropped over $100,000 on a Ukrainian anti-corruption TV show to raise awareness about the very same message that Zelensky peddled as president: fighting corruption. Looks like that's going really well so far. Clearly yet another case of money 'for Ukraine' well spent!
