The Turtle is the frontrunner to win season 3 of “The Masked Singer.” He is one of the strongest contenders in the quarterfinal on May 6. He earned his spot in the final five based on his powerhouse performance of “Stay” by Alessia Cara last week. That was just the latest of his outstanding turns in the spotlight that won praise from the four judges four judges (Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger, Robin Thicke).
We’ve been wondering who the Turtle is since he made his debut on the show in week 1 with his cover of “Kiss from a Rose” by Seal. He followed that up with “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back” by Shawn Mendes; “Higher Love” by Steve Winwood; “Say You Won’t Let Go” by James Arthur; and “Let It Go” by James Bay.
To figure out who the Turtle really is, we’ve watched all of his performances again as well as his clues videos. We agree with the judge that he Turtle is a one-time teen idol. But we don’t think he is Jenny McCarthy‘s husband Donnie Wahlberg or his New Kids on the Block bandmate Joey McIntyre. Keep reading for all “The Masked Singer” spoilers, including the real name of the Turtle.
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We are absolutely convinced that the Turtle is Jesse McCartney, the actor and singer-songwriter.
Jesse came to fame two decades ago years ago for his Emmy-nominated role on “All My Children” and as part of the boy band Dream Street. As the Turtle readily revealed, “at the starting line of my career, I was surrounded by other hungry newcomers.” In one of his clues video, he wrote “Don’t rave ever at my school, Turtle” on a chalkboard: the first letter of each word spells out the first name of the band.
We also saw some Greek letters on that chalkboard, which we read to be a reference to Jesse’s recurring role on the ABC Family series “Greek.”
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When Dream Street broke up in 2002, Jesse enjoyed some success as a solo act. His first album,”Beautiful Soul” went gold. As a group, “The Masked Singer” season 3 contestants have 88 gold albums.) In one of the clues video, there was a shot of a map of Korea, with the capital city of Seoul highlighted.
The Turtle confessed to Nicole: “I’ll never forget the morning we spent together. It was turtle-y awesome.” Jesse and Nicole appeared on the same episode of the Today show in 2008.
That was the same year that Jesse was nominated for a Grammy for co-writing the Leona Lewis hit “Bleeding Love.” As a group, the celebrities on “The Masked Singer” have earned 69 Grammy Awards nominations.
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In another of the clues video, there was a shot of a surfboard. This has two ties to Jessie: He won three Teen Choice Awards, which are in the shape of a surfboard, and he starred in “Summerland,” a short-lived WB drama set at the beach.
In another video, the Turtle holds up a comic book, “The Amazing Adventures of Shellboy,” with a price tag of $10.13. McCartney was the voice of superhero Dick Grayson in the animated series “Young Justice” series, which ran from 2010 to 2013,
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We won’t find out if we are right that Jesse McCartney is the Turtle until he is unmasked. This will happen only when he loses the audience vote or wins the show. Do you think we are right about the true identity of the Turtle? Sound off in the comments section with your best guesses.
