UFC world champ Dricus Du Plessis knocked everyone’s socks off as The Masked Singer SA’s Wildebeest.
It’s no secret that mixed martial arts fighter Dricus “Stillknocks” du Plessis can pack a punch in the world sports arena, but who would have thought that South Africa’s first-ever holder of an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) belt, also sported some mighty vocal cords? Most definitely not the detectives on duty at The Masked Singer South Africa!
Since Wildebeest opened Season 2 of the fun-filled singing contest five weeks ago with a spectacular performance of “Let Me Entertain You” by Robbie Williams, the show’s supersleuths – J’Something, Somizi Mhlongo, Sithelo Shozi and Skhumba Hlophe – had no clue who the celebrity behind the mask could be.
Hence, the jaws dropped when it was revealed this week that Wildebeest’s beautiful husky voice belonged to national hero Dricus.
After surviving the grueling first round of unmaskings, six costumed characters returned to The Masked Singer South Africa this week for Round 2 of trying to keep their anonymity intact. Butterfly faced Mielie, whereafter Wildebeest tackled Diamond and Rainbow took on Giraffe.
The detectives found Wildebeest’s video clue package leading into his Round 2 performance of “Counting Stars” by One Republic just as confusing as the hints he dropped previously. This time, Wildebeest confessed that he had something in common with the CEO of SpaceX and that his family roots are in the land of the croissants.
J’Something, who raved about Wildebeest’s voice throughout the season and even wondered if he might be a rock star, was perplexed by the Elon Musk comparison. Was he a CEO? And why all the references to space? So, J’Something’s wild guess was that Wildebeest was Mark Shuttleworth.
Instead of unravelling the obscure clues, Sithelo and Skhumba dissected the mask-in-question’s dance moves, concluding that they were dealing with a white Wildebeest. So, combining this info with all four of the detectives’ first-round assumption that this celebrity is a rugby player, Sithelo considered World Cup winners Francois Pienaar and Faf de Klerk. Meanwhile, Skhumba named another Springbok, Pieter-Steph du Toit.
Showcasing his “command” of the Afrikaans language hilariously, Somizi put all the supposed pieces of the puzzle together. Wildebeest plays rugby for France, the land of the croissants and the Eiffel Tower, and is called Paul Willemse.
Unfortunately, Wildebeest soon found himself far away from France in the danger zone alongside Butterfly and Rainbow.
When the judges could rescue one of the three endangered Masks, Somizi disclosed that he had been a fan of Wildebeest. However, the foursome finally decided that Rainbow could shine for another day.
Thereafter, the audience vote determined the fate of Butterfly and Wildebeest, with Butterfly flying to the next round.
Before Wildebeest had to drop his horns, the detectives had one more chance to guess who had been kicking up such a storm on stage.
Delving into their notebooks, looking at their scribbles from previous episodes, the detectives remembered that Wildebeest had mentioned a “nose job” before. So, J’Something and Somizi locked in Kwagga Smith. Sithelo stuck to Faf de Klerk, and Skhumba settled on Pierre Spies.
Of course, it was a massive surprise when world champ Dricus emerged from behind the mask. Dricus described his time on The Masked Singer South Africa as “awesome” and “so much fun.”
“I love music. I sing a lot in the shower, and I sing a lot in the car, so I thought, ‘let me get out of my comfort zone and take this car singing to the world’. And I loved being Wildebeest. It was a spot-on outfit for me,” he said.
The Masked Singer South Africa is screened on Saturdays at 18:30 on S3 (formerly known as SABC 3) with rebroadcasts on SABC 1 on Thursdays at 21:00, as well as on S3 on Fridays at 22:00.
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