Who is the squirrel on ‘The Masked Singer?’

The Masked Singer recently became a hot commodity following the hit singing competition series’ DC Superheroes-themed night. 

The show’s premise follows celebrities as they battle it out for the grand prize: A masked trophy. To make matters even more interesting, contestants must wear a full-body costume to completely hide their identity. The most recent episode in season nine made headlines because fans and The Masked Singer’s judges, including Jenny McCarthy, Robin Thicke, Ken Jeong, and Nicole Scherzinger, tried to figure out the person behind the Squirrel costume.

The possible identity of the Squirrel and mentioned clues

The event occurred last week when the Squirrel made their debut on the hit Fox show.

In addition to singing Pink’s track “Try,” the unknown individual provided clues to the judges and the audience members. Some hints included the individual talking about their past career as a professional figure skater. The Squirrel also mentioned that they worked for a huge modeling agency and starred in acne-remedy commercials as a teenager before eventually landing roles in international shows and films.

Other clues consisted of this unidentified person dreaming of becoming a child psychologist, and kissing actor Tom Cruise. In addition to those hints, the celebrity’s clue package contained Swedish meatballs, a castle, a gorilla, a smiley face button, and DC Comics Chief Creative officer Jim Lee’s drawing with the words “Hero Time” plastered over it.

Although the Squirrel’s identity hasn’t been revealed because the contestant has yet to be eliminated or crowned the winner, Entertainment Weekly reports that the Squirrel is actress and Watchman star, Malin Akerman. 

The publication came to its conclusion for various reasons. One is because Akerman, who hails from Sweden, has openly talked about her experience as a figure skater and once majored in psychology before moving to California to focus on her acting career. As for the acne commercials, Akerman landed her first big modeling opportunity for Noxzema, a skincare company. Regarding the Tom Cruise reference, Akerman starred with the actor in Rock of Ages. 

In the 2012 film, Akerman played Cruise’s love interest, Constance Sack. Entertainment Weekly also discloses that the castle could have represented one of her first starring roles in the industry, titled Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. At the same time, the gorilla clue may reference Akerman’s movie Rampage, which coincidentally featured a Western lowland gorilla. The last hints, including the smiley face and the drawing, are reportedly from her 2009 film Watchmen. 

The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on FOX.