Dick Van Dyke Knew ‘The Masked Singer’ Judges Wouldn’t Guess It Was Him
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During Wednesday night’s Season 9 premiere of The Masked Singer, Gnome was unmasked as legendary actor Dick Van Dyke. The 97-year-old star said in an interview that he knew the panelists wouldn’t guess it was him under the mask.
Dick Van Dyke Talks About The Masked Singer
During Wednesday’s premiere, Van Dyke took the stage in the Gnome costume to sing “When You’re Smiling” by Billie Holiday. Guesses from the panelists about his identity included Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro.
“I said, ‘Those guys don’t sing.’ I hope they would say a good singer, but they didn’t,” Van Dyke told People, adding that he was “flattered” by the Tony Bennett guess.
Van Dyke shared that he had never seen The Masked Singer when the show invited him to be a contestant. He ended up checking it out and thought that “it looked like a lot of fun.” The star added, “I was positive they wouldn’t be able to guess who I was. And I was right!”
The actor said he wants to go back to the show to meet the crew, since he wasn’t able to see them during his time there. Due to the show’s secrecy, his head had to be covered. As Van Dyke said, “They led me around so I wouldn’t fall down. But I was blindfolded the whole time.”
SEE ALSO: ‘THE MASKED SINGER’ REVEALS 3 NEW COSTUMES AHEAD OF SEASON 9 PREMIERE
Van Dyke’s Wife Chose His Song
For his Masked Singer performance, Van Dyke sang “When You’re Smiling,” which was also famously performed by Frank Sinatra. The idea for him to sing the song apparently came from Van Dyke’s wife, Arlene Silver.
“They wanted me to do something current and I know nothing from rock,” Van Dyke told People. “So we picked out one which typifies me. She’s the one that came up with it and I liked the song, too.”
After Van Dyke was unmasked during Wednesday’s show, panelist Ken Jeong called it the “greatest reveal ever.” Meanwhile, Nicole Scherzinger was in tears as she shared what an honor it was to have the iconic actor on the show.
