The first two ‘Masked Singers’ were unveiled in a big S2 premiere

The glam, the glitter, the gorgeous costumes: The Masked Singer (Wednesdays, 8 p.m., CTV) kicked off its second season on Wednesday night with eight introductory performances designed to dazzle audiences while rattling our brains.They weren’t kidding when they said this year would be way harder to guess the celebs in question—the clues didn’t give us much to go on at all but we still tried to guess. As host, and soon-to-be talk show host, Nick Cannon pointed out, cumulatively these 16 contestants have 42 Grammy nods, 35 No. 1 hits, 21 platinum records, 22 Broadway shows, and they have made 140 films. Plus, two of them have been named among Time’s most influential. It’s obvious that the talent is there, it’s just not so obvious who that talent is.Luckily that’s all part of the fun. As the first eight performers took the stage to wow us in the two-hour premiere, panelists Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong and Nicole Scherzinger gave their best guesses as to who the celebs were. Naturally there were plenty of camera pans to the live audience who either agreed or disagreed with their assessments as the show went along, and we found ourselves yelling out our own suggestions from our couches. In the end, two celebs were unveiled (more on that later) and we were completely hooked—we need to know who the rest of them are ASAP.

Who let the dog out?

If we’re being totally honest, we found The Rottweiler costume a little underwhelming compared to some of the other, glitzier get-ups. What dog has a six-pack anyhow? Well, apparently one who can belt out a pitch-perfect, radio-ready version of "Maneater." The celeb’s voice made up for everything we initially thought the costume lacked, and now he’s our clear frontrunner. Nicole and Robin thought so too; they deemed him their early favourite. Actually, Nicole seems pretty sure it’s Bruno Mars under that mask. Considering T-Pain won last year, we’d say that’s entirely possible.New clues: He’s got some kind of a football connection but it could be of the fantasy kind, as his ring suggests. Blue roses and a spinning record factor in somehow. Also, this contestant was bit by a Rottweiler as a kid.

Best in show

We can probably all agree that The Skeleton isn’t exactly a top-notch singer, but that dude can shake his bones. He’s got stage-presence for days and he had the audience eating out of the palms of his bony hands with a hilarious iteration of "Rapper’s Delight." It was, as they say, a delight. His Smackdown performance of "Good Times" was also, predictably, good times, and he’s safe for now. That’s got to make Ken happy since he’s convinced that his idol Martin Short is under that mask. Please, Masked Singer gods, make it so.New clues: This guy is older and is used to playing second fiddle, but he’s far from dead. The key to his success is always saying yes. Vegas, Christmas and violins may or may not also factor in. Another key? "Party on, dudes." Dana Carvey, perhaps?

This thing likes to majig

We still have no clue what a Thingamajig is, but he’s one of our favourites. The neon green costume is ridiculously fun, the guy’s got swagger, and after his performance of "Easy Commodores," this celeb proved he’s got the chops to back it up. Basically this guy oozes all kinds of personality, and we can’t wait to see him perform again, whoever he is. The panelists seemed as stumped as we are, as they threw out names like Dennis Rodman, Michael Strahan and Stephen Curry.New clues: Feathers, a magic case, a rapping clue package and fashion shoots are all hints at this celeb’s identity. It seems like he’s a basketball player and the number four feels important.

The bottom two

[caption id="attachment_4507063" align="alignleft" width="960"] Courtesy of Fox[/caption]Unfortunately, while The Egg and Ice Cream were two interesting early contenders, they just couldn’t crack it against the rest of the sweet competition. (Sorry, we couldn’t help ourselves. Ken can call the pun police right now.)So who was under the masks? The Egg was none other than Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir, a guess shared by Jenny and Robin. To be fair he made his clues a bit easier than the rest, but we were still tickled to see him under that yolk.As for Ice Cream? None of the judges guessed it was actually the popular YouTuber Tyler Blevins, a.k.a. Ninja. But Nick Cannon had an inkling. He admitted he’s a fan of the superstar streamer, who recently became the first professional gamer to sign a deal with Adidas. So basically, while he won’t carry on with his singing dreams this season, his overall worth just skyrocketed.How sweet that is.The Masked Singer continues Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CTV.