'Masked Singer' Sleuths Have Compelling Theories About the Identity of the Skeleton

Last year's surprise hit show The Masked Singer is almost back, and thanks to a bunch of clues on the series sneak peek, sleuths at home are already guessing the identities of the 16 new celebrity performers. Some of the clues seemed pretty oblique but one in particular has people convinced they know the meaning.

When introducing viewers to The Skeleton, a number 4261 was shown on screen, and it was too random not to be a clue to their identity. 

The most obvious conclusion is that the number is a birthdate. 4-2-61. If that's the case, we would just need to find a celebrity born on that day. There are two possible stars with that exact birthdate: actor Christopher Meloni and Bananarama frontwoman Keren Woodward.

The latter seems like the more obvious candidate since she has a music background, but she's British, and the only contestant with a U.K. accent is The Leopard. While we haven't seen much evidence of Chris singing, it's possible he's finally showcasing a hidden talent.

Some think that's making it way too easy for people — so maybe we shouldn't take the numbers in the order and orientation they're given. One person on reddit pointed out that if you flip the 6 to be a 9, you get another star's birthday: that of Migos' Quavo, who like Skeleton, has a thing for diamond grills.

Of course, it's possible the number has nothing to do with a birthday, but that definitely makes the clue more of a riddle than I can figure out. It's one digit too long for an area code, one too short for a ZIP code. 

We also tried to see if perhaps each number corresponds to a letter of the alphabet to spell something out. If that were the case, it could be either 4-2-6-1 = DBFA, which seems meaningless or 4-26-1 = DZA. The latter could refer to hip-hop artist Smoke DZA, but he is not nearly mainstream enough to end up on this show.

We expect, as more clues emerge, the meaning behind 4261 will become clearer. As for the other possible clues to The Skeleton's identity, here's what we know so far:

It appears they're shorter than Nick Cannon, who is 6 feet tall. That would rule out Christopher Meloni, who is the same height

The mystery singer specifically requested their elaborate bone microphone, but the significance of that tidbit eludes us for now.

He also alluded to being more of a sidekick than a main attraction, so other intriguing guesses include Dana Carvey — the Garth to Mike Meyers' Wayne — and Jason Alexander, who played George Costanza on Seinfeld. However, the latter is a much better singer than what we heard last night!

UPDATE: The premiere of season 2 made the meaning of the number 4261 any clearer, but we do have more clues about the identity of The Skeleton after seeing him perform. He made several Saturday Night Live references, paraphrasing quotes from popular recurring sketches like Wayne's World and Wild and Crazy Guys. Combined with his shorter stature and vocal stylings, Skeleton had Ken Jeong convinced he's Martin Short — and so are we.

As more clues emerge, we'll be sure to update with more educated guesses about the identity of this singer and the meaning behind their cryptic 4261 clue. 

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