(Warning: This post contains spoilers for Wednesday’s Group B finals of “The Masked Singer.”)
Robin Thicke slipped on the appealing identity of Banana Split on Wednesday’s Group B finals episode of “The Masked Singer” Season 6. This was a particularly hilarious cherry on top of a fun episode because Thicke has known one half of the two-person costume his entire life: David Foster, who along with his wife Katharine McPhee performed as the banana-and-ice-cream competitor.
As a matter of fact, Thicke was the only “Masked Singer” judge to not guess that Banana Split was the music-industry power couple, saying Foster — who was the best friend of his late father, Alan Thicke — would never come on “The Masked Singer” and wear a banana costume. Instead of saying Foster and McPhee, like everyone else, Thicke guessed Ryan Tedder and Leona Lewis.
“Well, I actually loved his guess, Ryan Tedder and Leona Lewis. It made me feel good, because I love both of them,” Foster told TheWrap in a joint interview with wife McPhee. “And I’ve actually just worked with Ryan Tedder, just last week, so it was a great guess. But I love the fact that we could throw the judges. But I think deep down–“
“I think he knew it was David!” McPhee added. “Come on, he’s known David since — like he said on the show, David has known him since he was a baby.”
Foster added: “I held him in my arms. And as Robin said, his father and I were best friends. Like, really best friends.”
Right, so Thicke was understandably shocked at the end of the episode when he was unable to piece it all together — especially because he ended up doing a duet with Banana Split to Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” during the hour.
McPhee is certain that had Thicke heard Foster’s voice during rehearsals, he would have known — but Banana was pretty tight-lipped compared to Ice Cream during the competition, choosing instead to accompany her most of the time with an instrument.
“It was cool, because you couldn’t really rehearse together. You had to stand a certain length away, but we were able to communicate via microphone and say, ‘OK, you do this part.’ And there is a level of having to rehearse a bit to get it so that it wasn’t a complete disaster,” the “Smash” star and “American Idol” alum said. “And then David, obviously, couldn’t really speak over the microphone because if Robin heard his voice, he would know exactly who it was, seeing the relationship they’ve had. It was a little challenging, but it was so much fun. The whole thing was really, really fun. I’m sure this is what everyone says who is on the show, that they’re surprised how much fun it actually is.”
As for Thicke’s reasoning that his “Uncle Dave” wouldn’t come on “The Masked Singer” wearing a banana costume, opting for something *cooler*, Foster and McPhee both have some interesting takes on how they think participating in the goofy Fox singing competition reflects on them in general.
“I’ll speak for myself. Listen, the costumes are incredible on the show,” McPhee said. :Even in person, they’re even more spectacular. I definitely thought the Banana-Ice Cream thing was a little silly, but they were like, ‘Come on, it’s Bananas Foster!’ They really sold us on it… We’ve been fans of the show, it’s such a feel-good family show where you just get to sit back and relax and laugh and enjoy really great music, great songs. And so we just were along for the ride. We’re like, ‘You know what, if you want us to wear a banana on our head and an ice cream around my waist, then we’re game.’”
Foster added: “People will say, ‘Well, why would you want to do a show like that?’ And when I saw that Seal had done the show, and some other real notables, like great singers, and Kat is a great singer and it just made sense to me. And I’ve always felt that doing out-of-the-box things like that, it’s not going to hurt. Is somebody going to go, ‘I don’t want to work with you because you’re on “The Masked Singer.”‘ I mean, they’re either going to like my talent or they’re not. And it’s not going to be based on the fact that I had some fun on a great TV show.”
“The Masked Singer” two-hour Season 6 finale airs next Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.