Another stereotype was shattered. Starring in “King of Masked Singer,” the Mystery Bride turned out to be a male singer, not a female. It was none other than Baek Chung-gak. On June 7, MBC music show “King of Masked Singer” presented the semi-finals between the Mystery Bride and the Lightning a Dry Sky who sang “Fix My Makeup” and “It’s Fortunate” respectively. Lightning a Dry Sky won with 74 points to 25. The Mystery Bride took off the mask and plunged the entire audience and the panel into panic. They had expected to see a female singer under the mask, but it turned out to be Baek Chung-gak.

The panel blurted out all at once that “disguising the gender was not allowed” and “no one had expected to see a male singer.” Behind the stage, Lightning in a Dry Sky was just as shocked, “A man? How could they disguise the gender? You cheaters.” Show host Kim Sung-joo explained that they concealed the identity of Baek Chung-kang to break stereotypes about gender. “Did you never even suspect once? Didn’t it occur to you at least once that it could be a male singer under the mask?” he asked.

Winner of “Birth of a Great Star,” Baek Chung-gang took a break from the music scene for a long time. “I’ve been battling cancer for two years, but now I’m completely cured,” he explained. Kim Hyung-suk praised him for singing all songs in the female key. Baek Ji-young also added, “It might be possible to sing in the female key, but it’s difficult to carry femininity in the voice. He’s a great singer who can jump across the male-female barrier.”
 
Many celebrities proved misconceptions and stereotypes wrong when they took off their masks. Hong Suk-chun startled everyone with his unexpectedly powerful voice and idol group members Cheonji of TEENTOP, Sandeul of B1A4, Yuk Seong-jae of BTOB, and Song Ji-eun of Secret proved that they were singers before they were idol stars. Kahi, Kim Seul-gi, Seo In-young also mesmerized the audience with just their voices.