Brian Austin Green Was Surprised He Stumped The Masked Singer Panel

It’s not often that a contestant on The Masked Singer manages to fool the panel, but Brian Austin Green did it. 

He got to perform as the Giraffe twice before being unmasked, and the panel were so close and yet so very far in every guess they threw out there. Nicole Scherzinger and Ken Jeong took a Megan Fox clue and thought it was Shia LaBoeuf while Robin Thicke was absolutely sure it was Travis Barker from Blink-182. They were all pleasantly surprised to discover that it was BAG, former star of Beverly Hills 90210, and Green was surprised that no one got it right—especially his lifelong friend Thicke. 

“I told the producers early on when they asked me to do the show, I was like, ‘Listen, you know, I grew up with Robin. He knows my voice. He knows like the timbre of it. He knows my cadence,” Green told E! News. “He’s known me since before puberty; he’s known my voice forever.” 

Thicke noted that he couldn’t put a face to the voice and ended up going in a “totally different direction.” 

Then, Scherzinger caught on to the Megan Fox clue and Green thought he was done for, since he and Fox were married for years. 

“I was like, ‘Oh man, she might have it!’ And then she went and then she said, Shia (LaBeouf), I was like, I’m home free, this is great,'” he said. “They literally have no idea.”

Then guest panelist Joel McHale threw out Jason Priestley, who Green co-starred with on 90210, getting the panel even closer to the right answer, but Green’s pretty sure that was just a random guess. 

“I think he wasn’t really paying attention to any of the package stuff,” he said. “I think he literally threw out a name and it just happened to be one that was really close…I don’t want to give him that much credit.” 

E! News: It’s a bummer that you were eliminated from the show! How did you feel about it?

BAG: I have no hard feelings or anything at all about going home. I honestly felt like my job is done here. We have these little changing tents backstage where you would put on your costume because the costumes were so intricate to get in and out of.  And when he announced that I was going home, you then have to go backstage because you know, I had on the giraffe head of the costume, I had all these like straps—a strap that would go under my chin, straps under my arms. I had all this stuff to hold it on and keep it secure. So you then have to go backstage and you have a hood on underneath it to absorb sweat, so then you take that off. They put the mask back on without all the straps, all that stuff. So you can do the unveil and that, then they edit it together and make it look like it’s all done at once.

E!: What made you want to do the show?

BAG: The pandemic.  Being at home for five months, having everything shut down, the industry sort of frozen.  First, when I was asked about it, it wasn’t something that I was interested in doing, because I’ve never been interested in doing any of the reality shows—Dancing with the Stars, or any of those. Listen, I’m not a dancer, I don’t want to go that route.

I kinda felt like what a great opportunity for people to just sit back and enjoy something, and for me to do it just for the fun of it and for my kids to be able to watch it.  And it gives me a chance to leave my house and have adult conversations with people. I’m not a super social person, I don’t go to parties and stuff like that, but the extent of being social for me is like, you know, coffee,  the grocery store, like at restaurants, and then on sets. So when that was gone, when it was like, okay, you can no longer go to the set and talk to people. It kind of felt like, man, what do I do?

So selfishly it gave me a chance to sort of do that again. And it was really fun. I mean, it was challenging. We had to do a lot of stuff on zoom, which I’m not a huge fan of because you know, you don’t have face to face interaction and energy that you get from people sitting on a computer. But it was a good time over all. I really had a good time.

E!: How hard was it to keep this secret? 

BAG: That was probably the hardest part. The hardest part was going to work and having to tell my kids and nanny, and the people in my house, and my mom, like, “Hey, I gotta go to work and I can’t talk about it. See you later!” It was really tough. And then, you know, in the whole age of social media—which I’m not used to, that’s not my generation—but the fans are super f–king smart. It’s unbelievable how many people would DM me and be like, “Good job Giraffe!” after the first performance, or people going, “Hey, are you the giraffe?” And it’s like, just not being able to say anything, like don’t even start talking about it. That’s the safest way to play this. Like literally just ignore it. Pretend like you never got the message.

So to do the unveil last night and not have to do that anymore is really—it’s a huge weight off my shoulders. It’s the first time I finally feel like, okay, that job is done. You did The Masked Singer.  You have all this stuff on set, nobody knows you, it’s very secretive.  It’s so freeing to, to know like, okay, cool. I can talk about it. 

E!: Were you impressed by the clues? Did you think they’d be difficult or too easy? 

BAG: The clues I thought were really good. The show is really challenging with COVID and everything because all of the pre-production was done on Zoom. So, I spent like two hours at one point, there were like six other people on zoom and they just asked me a billion questions. I talked about the show and I talked about my neurological stuff going on. I talked about racing. I talked about Domino. I talked about all sorts of stuff, from when I was a kid, Knot’s Landing, and all of it. They were being really smart in how they put it together. Like if you watch the clue packages, now the clues are dead on. If you watch them now, of course it’s Brian. 

Keep up with all the Masked Singer season four contestants below! 

“If you’re looking for a hint to my identity, you should know I share something in common with a powerful giant.”

Clues: He’s had a roller coaster career, music is in his blood but he became the butt of jokes when he took a big risk and crashed and burned, $3, drummed up towering success, he’s in the driver’s seat and he’s off to the races. He’s survived and thrived by seeing the big picture and staying above the drama, peaches, his whole world recently became crashing down, his life was transformed in the blink of an eye, had a terrifying episode that scrambled his brain, he defeated his invisible predator and now he’s at a crossroads in life, but as long as he has his herd he’ll be fine. A green apple, Fox, a domino with two fours. 

“Check the gremlin manual and you’ll see I can thrive when the temperature is a cool 66.5 degrees.” 

Clues: Checkered history, has a fluffy side and adores all animals, loves to cook. 

“If you want a hot clue to finding my identity, just look into stocks and bonds.” 

Clues: His lair is a bit humid, he loves a funky outrageous costume, he’s on a quest to be the best, his fire is “dangerous,” he switched gears and now he has a lot of gold, a bone, the Statue of Liberty

Revealed to be Busta Rhymes in episode one.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, what makes me the biggest miracle of all?”

Clues: Snacks and the City, goldfish wearing hoops, tiger, built a career around love but she’s a “hard-corn” hustler, works long nights “rushin'” from one job to the next, meatloaf, snake, apples, a little cheesy, she jet sets to exotic places with royalty. She wanted to step out of her comfort zone and loves “flirtin'” with Nick. She wasn’t always healthy and had trouble eating or sleeping until she found her voice, soap opera vibes, 16 candles, hair crimper, Rubix cube, rainbow flag, Venus. 

“If you’re trying to figure out who I am, here’s a hint: This sun knows how to shine like a torch even during the freezing winter.”

Clues: Gold Member, extreme seasons, felt like the center of the universe but the spotlight was too much, Mickey Mouse ears, frozen, A Quiet Place, feels like the sun is a reflection of her. She missed out on a lot of childhood growing up in a fractured home, now she’s discovering childhood outlets, into the woods, loves dirt in her toes, cauldron, immaterial girl, she’s burning ugly rumors, a magic eight ball. 

“You can try and figure out who we are, but as for who is more talented, it’s a tie.” 

Clues: We haven’t seen them together in a while but now it’s time for a family reunion, he’s a prankster who once covered their house in snow, a pearl, a rose, Hollywood, Magnolia and “Quarrel Canyon.” He was going through a messy breakup and she acted as his anchor, DAL on a basketball, a light up D, she had an opportunity “fit for a queen,” she took a leap of faith and he was her knight in shining armor, a witch’s hat. 

“A special set of keys reversed my game forever. Tic-tac-whoa.” 

Clues: Grew up in Hollywood, a fish in a pineapple, naturally into water, Italy 

“If you’re looking for a hint about this Baby Alien, all you have to do is look to the stars.”

Clues: used to be on the Tony Awards stage, the Liberty Bell, roses, sleeps in a crib, “stuck in second gear” 

“Living in the ocean can be dangerous, so it’s always good to find a quiet place to hide.”

Clues: Felt trapped by her insecurities, too shy to release the fire burning inside, felt lost in the world, a warthog, always swimming up stream, gets to stop playing tug of war with herself and gets to explore the “dauntless diva” within. 

“Some might say that my career had a magical start.”

Clues: People think he’s shy and he lets others absorb his spotlight, “dance with the stars,” candybars, time to turn the tables on the world because he doesn’t want to be “hair today,” gone tomorrow. 

“If you want to know how I instantly appeared, here’s the prescription number to my identity.” 

 Clues: Library, he wanted to “heal pain,” the Caribbean, a book called “How to Get Yourself Out of Debt,” a fire extinguisher, his dad helped him get on a path to success by lighting a fire inside him. 

“I assure you that even though I may be cold-blooded, I have a warm and glowing flow with H20.”

“It’s very fitting that I have so many appendages. After all, I’m known for having a lot of hands to latch onto.”

“If you want a hint about me, I own who I am. I know my voice can go high, but my dishes go deep.”

“If you want to know who’s behind the mask, you’ll need to figure out who’s under my hats.”

“I’m a broco-lean, mean, heart-pumping machine. After all, it’s how I got my six-pack.”

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