‘The Masked Singer’: Tom Sandoval Revealed to be The Diver in Surprising Unmasking on NFL Night (Recap)

*Caution: Spoilers Ahead!

The Masked Singer returned on Wednesday for a football-themed NFL night and brought back four contestants from last week’s premiere — and a fifth new wildcard contestant, The Pickle — who all duked it out from inside costumes for a shot at the coveted Golden Mask trophy.

Helmed by host Nick Cannon and overseen by stalwart panelists Robin Thicke, Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy and Nicole Scherzinger, Wednesday’s exciting episode saw The Cow, The Diver, the Gazelle and The S’more hit the stage to sing their hearts out.

However, this week’s elimination proved to be the biggest highlight of the night as The Diver ended up getting voted off, and was revealed to be none other than Vanderpump Rules villain Tom Sandoval.

The Diver performed second on Wednesday and impressed the crowd with his cover of “I Ain’t Worried” by OneRepublic.

It’s clear The Diver was trying to make a shot at redemption with his clue package, where he talked about wanting to be famous since he was a kid, but never realized he’d be infamous.

“I modeled, I acted, and of course, sang. I was always waiting to become a household name,” The Diver said in the pretaped package. “I just didn’t know it would be for everyone hating me.”

Despite the impressive performance, he still wound up getting voted off — and Jeong and McCarthy were the only ones to correctly guess the secret identity.

“This was fun. It was so much fun. Being able to come out here, perform, you know, behind a mask, not being judged, just being judged on my performance,” a soft-spoken Sandoval shared after unmasking. “It was really nice.”

“And you’re very good, Tom,” McCarthy shared, before asking if it was hard for the embattled reality star to come out and be “vulnerable” following the controversy.

“Yeah, it was, but it was nice. I felt protected under the mask,” he shared. “I mean, this costume is incredible. [And] there’s so many talented people here. I’m just honored to be part of it.”

The reality star became somewhat of a reality villain when revelations surfaced earlier this year that he cheated on his girlfriend, Ariana Madix, with their mutual friend, Rachel Leviss. 

The highly publicized scandal among the Vanderpump Rules stars was quickly labeled Scandoval, and a few months later in May, Leviss and Sandoval called off their relationship.

Sandoval’s appearance on The Masked Singer comes amid Madix’ run on the new season of Dancing With the Stars — on which the reality star has been wowing the judges with her footwork and charisma.

The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.

Check out the gallery below for a look at every single contestant who has ever had to “take it off” throughout the history of the show!

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