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‘The Masked Singer’ spoilers: Who is Chess Piece?

Paul Sheehan
3 min read
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It’s hard to believe that season 12 of “The Masked Singer” has seen the departure of five celebrities already. The most recent exit was Dust Bunny, who was revealed to be funny man Andy Richter on the October 16 episode. One of his competitors that night was Chess Piece, who wowed the crowd with a cover of the Cher classic “Believe.” We believe we know the true identity of Chess Piece. Keep reading for all your “The Masked Singer” spoilers, including the answer to the question, “Who is Chess Piece”?

We’ve watched her performance and the clues package over again and we think that Chess Piece is Jinkx Monsoon, a two-time winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” We have to admit that this is more of a guess than we usually like to make. (Update: we have a new theory that you can find at the bottom of this post.)

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In the clues package, we saw a costume exhibit with four past contestants on “The Masked Singer”: Goldfish (Vanessa Hudgens), Night Angel (Kandi Burress), Queen of Hearts (Jewel) and Sun (LeAnn Rimes). These women have been guest judges on various versions of “Drag Race.” And the red lips that were on display are part of the signature look created by Jinkx.

Jinkx has spoken eloquently about their struggles with self-confidence over the years. That ties in to Chess Piece’s admission, “people doubted me my whole life, but I had to believe in myself and make bold moves across the board to secure my crown, and that leading role that changed my game.” Jinkx first came to fame as the winner of  season 5 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” back in 2013.

The fact that the Ambassador is Nikki Glaser (who competed as the Snowstorm on Season 8) gives us a little more confidence in our theory. After all, Nikki was a guest judge on season seven of “Drag Race All Stars,” which was won by Jinkx in 2022.

The past two years have been a whirlwind for Jinkx. They have starred on Broadway (“Chicago”) and off (“Little Shop of Horrors”) and had a memorable guest turn on “Doctor Who.” It is a stretch but we think the Sports Night clue of green tennis shoes could be a tie-in to “Little Shop.” The character that Jinkx played, Audrey, has a show-stopping number, “Somewhere That’s Green.”

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Update: There is speculation that this could be Billy Porter or Laverne Cox but we think another possibility is the R&B singer Tinashe.

Tinashe and Nikki did “Dancing with the Stars” together back in 2018; Nikki was the first celebrity eliminated while Tinashe made it to week 4.

Nikki mentioned that Chess Piece is “fashion forward”; Tinashe was a frequent guest on “Fashion Police.”

Vanessa and Tinashe did “Rent” live on TV in 2019 with; Kandi called Normani, Chl?e, and Tinashe her dream girl group; and Tinashe just did a gig at the Jewel nightclub in Las Vegas.

The red lips made us think of talk show host Wendy Williams, who scolded Tinashe in a scathing editorial about colorism.

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And the tennis shoes could be a callback to Tinashe’s 2017 appearance on the podcast “Sneaker Shopping” to discuss her love of Jordans.

We will only find out if we are right that Chess Piece is Jinkx Monsoon or Tinashe when she is unmasked. That will happen when she loses a vote or wins the show. Do you think we are right about the true identity of Chess Piece ? Sound off in the comments section with your best guesses.

‘The Masked Singer’ spoilers
Bluebell | Buffalos | Chess Piece |Goo| Wasp

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