California Roll Out (And Unrolled)

The final three acts faced off on The Masked Singer Wednesday night, and after a trio of strong semifinals performances and a three-way Battle Royale round, the unthinkable happened—group contender California Roll, by far the best act of Season 9, was cut from the musical menu.

The five-piece, sushi-themed ensemble has wowed viewers with their standout arrangements and impeccable harmonies since Week 3 of the competition and seemed like a collective shoo-in for the finals. But now that honor has been reserved for the still-masked Macaw and Medusa.

As for California Roll, they’ve been unrolled and revealed to be the exactly who fans and judges haved long suspected.

Their stellar harmonies gave it away in every performance—from their early rendition of “Paparazzi” to last week’s “Creep” to this week’s “Breakaway”—California Roll had to be an act know for their blended vocals, or as panelist Nicole Scherzinger put it, their skills that defied “what the human voice can do.”

And on Wednesday night, after inexplicably losing to the competition, California Roll was confirmed to be the Grammy-winning quintet Pentatonix.

After losing the Battle Royale with their beatbox-punctuated version of Bruno Mars’ “Runaway Baby,” Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Scott Hoying, Kevin Olusola and Matt Sallee thanked the cheering crowd, with Olusola explaining why they participated in the series.

“We just thought this was a really fun opportunity to do something we’ve never done before,” he said.

But on social media, it quickly became clear that fans wanted to see them do something else they’ve never done before: make it to the finals on The Masked Singer.

Some of those fans claimed Pentatonix’s elimination proved the popular show “is rigged.”

Others were left “fuming” over the alleged injustice of it all.

And yet others were just upset they didn’t get a chance to see the act get the win they deserved.

But, assuming all the PTX rage calms down before next week’s finals, there’s still a chance for those viewers to pick a second-favorite to rally behind.

Medusa

The woman sporting dozens of snaky appendages and a love of guttural glory notes is still in it.

As for Medusa’s identity, the latest guesses from the panel included Ellie Goulding and Grimes, but it’s one of Scherzinger’s guesses from last week that still seems most likely—Bishop Briggs. In fact, this week’s clue package even featured a framed photo of singer Sarah McLachlan, which is a big hint considering that Briggs was born Sarah Grace McLaughlin.

Macaw

Feathered crooner Macaw will go head-to-head with Medusa next week, and given his most recent performances, he seems the favorite between the pair.

But given how safe California Roll seemed, all bets are off.

Who’s behind the beak? Well, once again, it was Scherzinger who offered up the best guesses with former Glee star Darren Criss and American Idol Season 7 runner-up David Archuleta, both of whom have a very similar sound.