‘Masked Singer Australia’ S1E6 Recap: Hughesy Sees Dead People, As Does Unicorn

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve had the strangest dreams at night,” says Lindsay Lohan, accidentally reading lines from the Untitled Lindsay Lohan Horror Project script she found in her trailer, curiously left without note.

Dreams come up a lot this episode: like we said last recap, Masked Singer Australia is obsessed with relentless attempts of maintaining fame.

Every contestant had a dream as a kid — netball, singing, equestrian sports — and then chases another to varied success. Monster says they dream of many things (of electric sheep?), but then they wake to sing Christina Aguilera’s ‘Beautiful’ in a hall of mirrors.

Jackie O wipes away a tear, watching the pink ball belt it out. If this is a dream, it’s over-ripe for analysis.

There are a handful more interesting moments this episode, and point towards the show doing bizarre things to come. The shot of Unicorn crying over a coffin will plague me long after we’ve all left this show behind — or until next year, at least, given Masked Singer Australia‘s maintained its ratings strong-hold, and as per Hughsey today, will return with Lohan in tow.

After a rendition of Ava Max’s ‘So Am I’ which caused me to shriek in excitement before remembering Dragon (a real drag on the show, I guess you could say???) was the fourth member of this powerhouse. If only Lion was there: it would have been the most ambitious cross-over in pop culture history.

After two episodes with guest guessers, it’s nice to have the core four back: they’ve settled into a rhythm, and it’s quite funny to see Dannii Minogue run over to Jackie O mid-Dragon’s performance, more or less ignoring Lohan and Hughsey.

They’re good value — and have come to love Hughsey’s dad joke guesses about dead people or when he mispronounces ‘Cher’ — but when it comes to playing, Minogue knows her partner is Jackie.

Spider

Spider is the only one we’re 50/50 on: last week, we said it’s either Jessica Mauboy or Dami Im, but this week, we’re chucking Im out and putting Aus Idol legend Paulini into the mix.

A few clues, actually, make us topple over to 40/60 leaning towards Paulini: the mention to a golden aura makes more sense with her, and the thing about the hanging out with the girls sometimes points towards the Young Divas. Then again, Mauboy was right there next to her, and her role in The Sapphires — a film doused in gold colours, no less — saw her dip in and out of being in a team throughout her career.

But! Paulini was into netball as a kid. But! Spider essentially quotes directly from one of Mauboy’s songs, ‘I Believe – Anything Is Possible’. We’re lost.

Mmmm Maybe this is the lyrical reference #MaskedSingerAU pic.twitter.com/Uqm6uPmKlV

— Nathan Dowd (@NathanJDowd) October 8, 2019

Monster

A radio presenter, country girl and ex-Shania Twain tribute show star, Gorgi Coghlan is simply Monster, and she must win this show. Her real competition are Unicorn, Lion and Spider, but the ridiculous cuteness of the costume — and that voice — might see her though.

She will win absolutely nothing, but it has now become my life mission for this to be the case. Stream Monster on Google Play, and hijack your neighbours’ ChromeCast to spread the gospel.

Unicorn

Deni Hines, according to literally the first line in her Wikipedia, is big in Australia, NZ, Japan and a couple of Europe countries. The flags match up, as does the voice — unbridled for the first time tonight, really belting — and the US passport, given her mother’s nationality.

Her father Eugene died when Hines was just six months old, explaining, in part, why the show decided she should wear a unicorn costume and pretend to grieve for her father. Cool stuff.

Dragon

While I’m happy to trim the fat (even if that fat had gastro, and couldn’t perform 100 percent before tonight), there was a part of me that wasn’t ready to see Dragon go.

That was the part of me that furiously scribbled down notes and became absolutely convinced it was Adam Brand. I even learnt he had an Italian cookbook, had a song called ‘Rain’ and won a shitload of Golden Guitars in 2008. This information is now completely useless to me, and I will immediately forget it as soon as this sentence is done.

Dragon’s performance tonight was much, much better: it’s easier to sing without the risk of shitting yourself, I assume, but also, also easier without holding in your natural country twang.

Another episode, another week where a celebrity says they went on the show for their child. I’m dreaming for something a little more dramatic next week, in the semi-finals.

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Masked Singer Australia airs on Channel 10/Win at 7.30pm Mondays and Tuesdays, and is available to stream on 10 Play.

Jared Richards is a staff writer at Junkee, and co-host of Sleepless in Sydney on FBi Radio. Follow him on Twitter.