The celebrity formerly known as Mallard opened up about competing on The Masked Singer. In the latest episode, which saw a double unmasking, the Mallard was revealed to be Duck Dynasty star Willie Robertson. On the same night, the Caterpillar was revealed to be Queer Eye interior design expert Bobby Berk. The Masked Singer is currently in its sixth season, with Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Ken Jeong and Nicole Scherzinger all returning to the judging panel. Nick Cannon returned as host. The Mallard was first introduced in the Group B premiere and got to perform four times before being unmasked.
The panel, as well as many fans, came up with several guesses that suggested the Mallard could be a country music star. This included Toby Keith, Alan Jackson, Jason Aldean and Garth Brooks. The Mallard’s clue packages did include musical references, such as a platinum album and a jukebox. After his last performance, Jenny was convinced that she knew the Mallard’s identity. In fact, she became the second panelist to press the newly introduced Take It Off Buzzer. In the previous episode, Ken used the buzzer to incorrectly guess that the Pepper was Sara Bareilles. This week, Jenny’s guess was incorrect. She thought the Mallard was actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
Willie spoke with EW to discuss his Masked Singer experience. He admitted that the show was “never on my radar,” but there was one person who he knew would get a kick out of it, saying, “My agent called and said, ‘Hey, Masked Singer wants you to be on there,’ and I died laughing. I said, ‘My mother-in-law is going to be so happy.’” Not only did Willie watch the show with her this season, but she immediately knew that he was the Mallard. The most obvious clue came when the character mentioned meeting his wife at church camp. Willie also got a kick out of Chris Pratt’s shout-out. Throughout this season of The Masked Singer, several friends of the contestants have sent video messages to their masked friends. As he explained, “There was a lot of people that I could have asked…if I had gotten a country music singer, it would have made more sense. But I wanted to do this Hollywood angle to really throw people off.“
Willie also expressed some hesitation in joining The Masked Singer, despite having TV experience. He added, “I really didn’t know what I was getting into…I’d sang before, but nothing like that…I was open to the challenge, and it was harder than I thought. But it was pleasing as well…I was able to get up there and not screw it up too bad…There’s so many things going through your head, like if I’ve missed the words. There’s just a lot of stuff going on. But it was awesome. It was very fulfilling.” While reflecting on The Masked Singer, Willie said this wasn’t his first experience with stage fright and referenced his stadium appearance with Luke Bryan, as mentioned in one of the clue packages.
The Mallard definitely stumped many of The Masked Singer fans. The actual singers are usually easy to guess, but Willie successfully threw the audience off with his musical references. Almost all of the panel’s guesses were famous country singers. That being said, the reveals of stars who aren’t singers are usually the most entertaining. It should be interesting to see how many of the remaining contestants are musically inclined.
The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on FOX.
Source: EW
