[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 8 Episode 9 “Fright Night.”]
Scarecrow didn’t simply flip heads in her movie previous — she additionally did simply that within the newest Masked Singer.
Scarecrow shocked everybody by asserting she was bowing out and unmasking herself earlier than the viewers vote may very well be tallied. And, because the superstar below the masks, actress Linda Blair, went on to clarify, it’s as a result of she had a particular cause for doing the present: calling consciousness to her work serving to animals by the Linda Blair World Heart Foundation.
“I’ve been out of the public’s eye intentionally helping the animals. It’s all I do right now,” Blair tells TV Insider. “So I knew nobody would guess me, and that’s what makes the show fun.”
Here, Blair shares extra about her work and time on The Masked Singer.
Because you had a particular cause for doing this, was it a simple sure from the start?
Linda Blair: I began rescuing in 1997 after I had finished Grease on Broadway. I got here again from New York to California and an enormous pit bull adopted me house on the top of the disaster. And I ended up the one which fought the breed ban in California, which might’ve been a ban on pit bulls, German Shepherds, huskies and every kind of breeds. We fought actually exhausting. We stopped the ban in order that the animals wouldn’t all be killed.
But then Hurricane Katrina got here alongside and I ended up in Louisiana and I rescued over 350 animals there. We have been capable of get them into totally different areas away from Louisiana, after which I took 51. I constructed this property in California as a brief [place], however 16 years later, the disaster is overwhelming. There’s been quite a lot of good articles popping out concerning the pandemic and all of the animals being introduced again to the shelters. The rescues and shelters throughout the nation are asking for assist — not asking, we’re begging for folks to know we wish to assist, however we are able to’t assist all of them. The shelters are stuffed to the brim and having to euthanize completely fantastic, companion animals, and none of us need that.
So I used to be requested to do The Masked Singer, and I assumed, wow, what an amazing alternative if I might do that and work with Fox as to why I might do it, and what might we do to assist the animals. They agreed. And I’m deeply appreciative that they allowed me to return and carry out after 16 years and do a enjoyable, entertaining routine that I might then speak about why I used to be there and ask for the general public to know we are able to’t assist everyone. We’re making an attempt, however we’d like their assist. Rescues depend on volunteers and donations. We haven’t any state funding. We are on our personal. And that’s throughout the nation.
This was the one method I knew to do it, was to achieve out by having this unbelievable alternative Fox provided me. I’m an enormous fan of the present, by no means thought I’d be on it, and after they requested, I used to be like, uh-oh, how am I gonna do that? But we did. So I’m so glad that individuals are capable of see my coronary heart and that I might like to be entertaining, however till the animal disaster is best, I can not return to the movie enterprise. I wish to, however I gained’t depart my mates in want.
Michael Becker / FOX
You undoubtedly received the phrase out since you stunned everybody by bowing out of the competitors and selecting to unmask. Had that been the plan all alongside?
Yes. [Laughs] I knew in my coronary heart that the opposite contestants have been actually singers and I begged Fox to let me do what I wanted to do. So all the way down to the wire, they have been hoping I might change my thoughts, however I knew I couldn’t stroll away from my work, from the inspiration and compete longer. At the time, it might have gone on for an additional couple weeks, and for me to stroll away …
Running a basis and a canine rescue might be one of many hardest issues ever as a result of you must present the financials, begging for donations. You have to supply the meals, the medical, water, electrical energy, happiness, pleasure, air con, warmth. Dogs are as near people. They need to have folks, so that they’re very needy, the place cats are extra impartial and horses and livestock are impartial. But canine are far needier and actually a mirror to folks to say, “Hey, I need love and attention and friendship as well.” And they offer it again tenfold. They’re right here for us, we’re blessed to have them.
That was the one cause I knew that I actually couldn’t go on and I wished the opposite to entertainers to have their day within the highlight. It meant a lot to all of us for various causes.
Not solely was your efficiency enjoyable, however it additionally appeared such as you had enjoyable messing with the panelists throughout it.
I did that on objective, my buddy. My aim was to have enjoyable, do one thing actually totally different. It’s referred to as Masked Singer, not Masked Run Around the Stage Dancer. [Laughs] And Fox was good sufficient to let me do what I might do nicely, which was entertain. My major aim was to essentially have enjoyable with the panelists and attempt to get them to go, wait, what?
I don’t personally know everyone. Robin Thicke I’ve recognized since he was seven years previous. His dad was one in all my finest mates and an unbelievable mentor for me after I was in my 20s and making an attempt to barter our enterprise. So Robin, we used to do the diabetes basis work for them. I used to go to the occasions with him. I’m so happy with Robin.
Ken [Jeong] you simply need to mess with. You simply need to. Everything was about going after Ken and having enjoyable, poking enjoyable. Nicole [Scherzinger], probably the greatest entertainers on the planet, and I’m in awe of her reward, her unbelievable character, her humanity on prime of her magnificence. And Jen [McCarthy Wahlberg] is that this unbelievable soul who has entertained us for thus a few years, is so stunning, has been by a lot, and he or she’s not solely standing, she’s form and goodness.
But Fox is the one that offers everybody the stage to have the ability to do the present, and I really like the present. I used to be a fan. It would take me away for an hour per week to overlook the unhappiness and the animals within the shelters that wanted out and the way have been we gonna assist them. That was why I’m so grateful to Fox for permitting me to take part.
Michael Becker / FOX
It looks as if you have been capable of have enjoyable as a result of the costume didn’t look as tough to maneuver in as others have been.
I requested them for a fancy dress that was cell. I knew that I wanted to run round and soar round. What I didn’t know is the top was like balancing a waiter’s tray in your head. That was the toughest half. The hat, I had aviation wing dynamics occurring throughout. [Laughs] That was the exhausting half, to not tip over.
No one on the panel guessed you, however it did really feel like a few of the clues made it actually apparent who you have been. What did you consider their guesses?
They have been very complimentary and I appreciated their compliments. I used to be like, wow, they’re actually not gonna expect what’s popping out of this costume. It’s actually exhausting to see below the masks. You solely have about two-inch vertical and about four-inch sideways. You can barely see and might’t hear very nicely. You have to essentially focus. I used to be actually touched and it was all very tearful as a result of I used to be there for the animals and that made me really feel so good that they appreciated and revered what I simply did, the efficiency. After 16 years, I gave every little thing I had.
But really this was for the animals. So irrespective of how exhausting it was for me, it’s not as exhausting as it’s for the animals which are scared and are being put out within the deserts and the streets. They had a house and possibly any individual handed away from the pandemic, any individual misplaced their house, and the animals are all of the sudden on the streets fending for themselves or in a chilly, scary shelter. I’m begging for assist. The shelters are asking rescues for assist. And so I’m going to the general public and the information media and asking on this unbelievable, by no means seen disaster in historical past for the animals, we’d like assist.
The animals got here up within the clues package deal. “Turned plenty of heads” was the clue I assumed would result in folks guessing you.
I assumed the clues have been fairly apparent myself. But I believe from the panelists’ standpoint, they’re at all times like, “wait, what?” for every one of many contestants, making an attempt to concentrate. It’s additionally a present, so it’s enjoyable to make enjoyable guesses. That’s why we at all times snort at Ken. Come on. Also I needed to poke enjoyable at Ken.
And then when he cried, simply saying why I’d come on and the the Aristocracy of all of it, I actually appreciated as a result of I did do that not for myself, however for the animals. I hope that individuals will say, “You know what? We got it. What can we do to help?” That’s all I’m asking throughout the nation, is for folks of their neighborhood to assist the rescues and the shelters proper now, particularly throughout the holidays. Adopt, don’t store, don’t buy animals. Anything you may think about is someplace in America in want of a house. And it’s not anyone’s fault. It’s the pandemic that prompted a lot issue for thus many and there’s so many individuals battling despair and anxiousness.
The Masked Singer, Special Thanksgiving Episode, Thursday, November 24, 8/7c, Fox