WARNING: Spoilers ahead for week two of “The Masked Singer”
The name of the game was ABBA on “The Masked Singer” this week, and unfortunately, only one could advance at the end of the night. That one was not Rock Lobster, and he admitted to TheWrap that he’s genuinely torn up about it.
Rock Lobster was the first to exit on Wednesday, and he was unmasked to reveal none other than comedian and television host — and now TikTok dancer — Howie Mandel. He performed “S.O.S.” for ABBA night this week – and for the record, no, he didn’t watch Pierce Brosnan’s performance of the same song in “Mamma Mia!” to prepare. He wanted to make the song entirely his own.
“I wanted to make it me,” he told TheWrap. “I said to somebody, ‘I don’t follow a path, I blaze a trail.’ I did things to prepare the night before. I lied naked in my bed and had my wife cover me with hot butter.”
Granted, that part is more in preparation for the lobster side of things, rather than the ABBA side of things, but it counts! When all was said and done, it still wasn’t enough to propel Mandel to the Battle Royale against Medusa, and he admitted to being legitimately crushed over that.
“I’m being dead serious about this stuff, this was my — I left it all out there on the stage,” he said. “And to be honest with you, it was an amazing experience. Incredibly disappointing that I didn’t get past one round. I was devastated. Devastated.”
In reality, Mandel said yes to doing the show before he even knew that it was “The Masked Singer” that was asking for him.
“One of my agents called me and said, ‘I’m getting a request for you to dance and sing.’ And I went, ‘Yeah, I’m there. I’m there. That’s what I do. That’s what I do. Obviously, somebody has taken my Tiktok seriously, and I am there,’” he recalled. “And they go, ‘But it’s on national TV,’ and I go ‘Even more!’ The joy that I get out of singing and dancing needs to be spread internationally. So it’s fantastic if it’s gonna be broadcast.”
He added, “The only little hiccup for me was that maybe they won’t know it’s me. I want them to know it’s me! They gotta know it’s me. I’ve worked so hard all my life perfecting my voice and my moves. How can you just wrap this up in a shell? And they did. They put me in a lobster outfit. But I liked that outfit. I liked it so much that I asked to keep the outfit.”
In the end, one of the judges did know it was Howie under the claws, and according to Mandel himself, that’s just because Jeong’s been a fan of his voice forever.
“He’s told me many times in the past ‘Why are you leaning on comedy? Why do you want to judge? Why do you need to host? Howie, sing. Sing. That’s the comfort zone. That’s where the world needs to hear you,’” Mandel joked. “So he’s always been a champion of my singing.”
“The Masked Singer” airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.