The unmasked celeb tells EW how the show compares to performing with Luke Bryan.
Warning: This article contains spoilers about Wednesday night’s episode ofThe Masked Singer.
TheGroup B semifinals didn’t mess around on Wednesday night.
Mallard performs on ‘The Masked Singer.'.FOX
This time it wasJenny McCarthy-Wahlbergwho hit the button for Caterpillar, and guessed he was… Jake Gyllenhaal?
Mallard got the boot first.
WILLIE ROBERTSON:I felt like I was hiding in plain sight with that thing on.
FOX
I had no idea that’s where we were going.
And when I saw it, I was like, “Oh, 100 percent.
If y’all let me wear that, I am all in.”
He was kind of dapper looking, and I just thought it was just a beautiful, beautiful costume.
It was really tall.
I was 9-foot-6-inches tall.
So that was a really tall hat.
And I couldn’t see below my nose, so it was very difficult up there moving around.
It’s crazy, crazy hot and I was sweating and you could’t wipe your face.
It’s crazy when you’re out there doing it.
What was your gut reaction when the producers called to see if you’d do the show?
Well, Iwouldsay it was never on my radar, but my mother-in-law, that is her favorite show.
And every time I saw her, she would say, “You have to do this show.
You would be so good on this show.”
I said, “My mother-in-law is going to be so happy.
She’s gonna be happier than I am.
That’s for sure.”
I mean, I’d sang before, but nothing like that.
I’ve done TV before, but nothing like that.
I was open to the challenge, and it was harder than I thought.
But you know, it was pleasing as well.
I felt really good about what I did and just felt great.
But it was awesome.
It was very fulfilling.
So did your mother-in-law figure out it was you?
If you know us, it’s pretty obvious.
I mean, even the clues were pretty obvious about meeting my wife at church camp.
The clues were fun.
I saw one clue that I didn’t get.
There was a little whale, and my wife goes, “That’sFree Willy.”
I didn’t catch that.
That was one I missed.
So since you’ve been watching, does that mean you saw Chris Pratt’s message to you?
I thought it was so cool.
I was so glad he was able to do that.
And it was so funny.
It was classic, classic Chris.
I didn’t know what he was gonna do.
[Laughs] But we thought it was so funny.
I still don’t know where he was at or what he was doing.
Because 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.
I think it worked with the judges because they were like, “Wait a minute.”
So then they were trying to connect me back to him and stuff.
But that’s what all came out of that.
But singing is tough, singing is different.
We sang live at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, me and Luke Bryan.
I remember Luke looking at me and he goes, “What is wrong with you?”
I’m like, “I’m about to throw up.
I’m so nervous.”
He’s like, “Why are you nervous?
It’s on TV.”
And I’m like, “Yeah… but there’s still a stadium here full of people!”
[Laughs] So it’s a different kind of deal.
So if I’m terrible, you’ve only got to wear it for like five minutes.
No one knows who you are.
So it kind of gave me that sense of freedom.
If you could give advice to futureMasked Singercontestants, what would it be?
One thing I did that helped, was that it’s crucial that you have some adversity.
So I would put a towel around my entire head and make it really hard to breathe.
Because that was one thing, I just had to figure out the breathing [in the mask].
I took advantage of all the practice time.
When we’d practice I would put that mask on every time, even though it’s uncomfortable.
With more time in there, you get more and more used to it.
That first song, I thought there’s no way I can do this.
This, it’s impossible.
What’d you take away from this experience?
It was something I accomplished.
I felt like I did something really cool, something to tell my grandkids about.
It was a challenge and I was nervous, but you go out there and you do it.
And I made it to the semifinals.
I feel proud of that.
And with Sadie [Robertson, his daughter] being onDancing with the Stars, same way with her.
You’re able to do a big, fun show.
And it was fun to be back on TV on Wednesday nights.
