Warning: This article contains spoilers about The Masked Singer season 3, episode 10.
Sorry, White Tiger: you only get one life, not nine, on The Masked Singer.
On the latest episode of the Fox competition show, it was revealed that former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was the latest to get the boot. The 30-year-old athlete-turned-Fox News analyst spoke with a small, select group of journalists about why tigers are definitely having a moment, messing up one of his songs, and more.
Rob, how’d you decide to do this?
ROB GRONKOWSKI: To tell you the truth, I really didn’t know what I was getting into. I mean I’ve heard all about the show. I’ve seen commercials about it, but I didn’t really know the full-on details and everything. I’ve always wanted to learn how to sing. I’ve actually always wanted to learn how to dance, too. Once I got the opportunity, I really didn’t know exactly what I was getting into. Now that I got some time on my hands, I thought, why not? I’ve always wanted to be part of a singing show. They won’t know it’s me underneath. It took a little pressure off. You just go out there and own it without anyone even knowing. You pretend like no one even knew you existed underneath the costume, like that scene in the movie Big Daddy where the kid puts on sunglasses pretends no one can see him. I kind of felt like that. It grew me a pair.
Why you pick that costume?
They showed me, like, three different costumes. The White Tiger just stood out to me. I don’t know why. It just kind of fit me.
How difficult was it to move around in the costume?
On top of performing, singing, dancing and all that, just wearing the costume was a project on its own. You definitely got to get used to that. That’s another conditioning level right there. You’re sweating by the time the song is over, like insane amounts of sweat. It’s definitely hard to move in.
Let’s talk about your exhaustion level. It seemed like during “Good Vibrations” you dropped some of the lyrics. Did you get pooped?
That is 100% correct. You caught that. I was supposed to do a spin move and I didn’t even hit it because I was out of oxygen. I missed a couple of the lyrics. I was hoping the show could help me out and call me in to just [re-record the lyrics later] so it doesn’t look like I have a blooper going out. But that was not the case. That just shows how difficult it is, no matter who you are. If you’re not doing that on a consistent basis, it can be difficult to perform and dance at the same time, especially with a full costume.
Talk about some of your song choices.
“Ice Ice Baby” is what I’ve been performing at karaoke for a couple of years now, but I never really remembered the [lyrics]. I always just sung the lyrics off of the karaoke machine. So obviously I wanted to go with that one as my first song because that’s the one I’ve been doing. I had practice. It actually took me about five hours to even learn the song.
How does the physical part of this show compare to nine seasons in the NFL? And what about your nerves?
They are very similar. You get a little shakiness going, your nerves are rumbling right before you get up on stage and before a big game. It’s definitely different conditioning. It’s just opening up a whole new aspect in your body. It feels good when you’re done.
Jenny McCarthy figured it out rather quickly. I think a lot of people sort of figured you out. Were you disappointed?
You kinda want to go through the whole show without people knowing who is underneath the mask. Jenny figured it out right away ’cause her husband’s a big New England fan. She kinda had my movement down. It’s kinda cool … but at the same time it would’ve been cool if they didn’t know cause that’s the purpose of the whole show.
Greg Gayne/FOX; Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images
Did you hear from any of your former teammates saying, “dude, is that you?”
I’ve heard from everyone no matter where I went. I was in Disney World and the workers were asking me if I was the White Tiger. I was going on Instagram live and all the comments would be, “are you the White Tiger?” It was pretty cool to see how big of a following the show has. It’s incredible because no matter where I was in the country, people were bringing it up.
You weren’t the only big cat on screen. Netflix has Tiger King. Have you been keeping up with it?
I’ve haven’t seen the show yet. I really don’t know much about it, but I’ve been hearing about it from people in many group text messages. I hear it’s about people with tigers. It’s just incredible. I don’t really know too much about it but all I know is that the White Tiger is out there and Tiger King is out there. So tigers are doing big things right now.
How are you handling the pandemic? I saw that you donated masks to a Boston hospital.
My girlfriend came up with the idea. Her friend’s husband works there and they were struggling for equipment. We’ve got some more big things coming up in the next week. Right now, I’m stuck with my mom. I won’t say stuck with my mom. I’m here with my mom. We’re playing Scrabble and just trying to do the best we can during this time. And to stay positive.
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The Masked Singer
Celebs compete in this crazy reality-singing TV show while wearing elaborate costumes to conceal their identities. Can you guess the celebrity behind the mask?
type
TV Show
seasons
3
rating
genre
Reality
status
In Season
network
Fox