‘The Masked Singer’: Dick Van Dyke Talks About the Extreme Secrecy Surrounding His Time on the Show
On Feb. 15, season 9 of The Masked Singer premiered on Fox. During the season premiere, Dick Van Dyke was one of two celebrities who were eliminated. Following his elimination from the show, Van Dyke was interviewed by People Magazine about his appearance on The Masked Singer.
Dick Van Dyke competed on ‘The Masked Singer’
In season 9 episode 1 of The Masked Singer, Van Dyke appeared as a contestant with the stage name the Gnome. During the first round, Van Dyke performed the song “When You’re Smiling” by Billie Holiday.
After performing, judges Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Ken Jeong, and Nicole Scherzinger contemplated different actors Van Dyke could be under the costume.
“I said, ‘Those guys don’t sing,'” Van Dyke told People Magazine. “I hope they would say a good singer, but they didn’t.”
Going into the show, Van Dyke knew the judges would not be able to guess who he was.
“I had never even seen the show when they asked me. So I checked it out and it looked like a lot of fun,” he said in the interview with People Magazine. “I was positive they wouldn’t be able to guess who I was. And I was right!”
The filming of ‘The Masked Singer’ was secretive
Speaking with People Magazine, Van Dyke revealed that the process of filming The Masked Singer was elaborate and quite secretive.
“From the time I got out of the car, my head was covered, so I never saw anybody,” the actor said. “I wanted to go back and meet them in person because I really never got to meet anybody. They led me around so I wouldn’t fall down. But I was blindfolded the whole time.”
For his performance, Van Dyke performed the song “When You’re Smiling,” which has been performed and recorded by Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and more.
“They wanted me to do something current and I know nothing from rock,” Van Dyke said.
In the interview with People Magazine, Van Dyke revealed his wife is the one who came up with the idea for him to sing “When You’re Smiling.”
“So we picked out one which typifies me. She’s the one that came up with it and I liked the song, too,” he said.
Dick Van Dyke performed another song after being eliminated
After he was eliminated on The Masked Singer, Van Dyke performed the Mary Poppins song “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” as his encore song.
“To be able to be in a Disney movie was a childhood dream for me, to work with Walt,” Van Dyke told People Magazine. “Then I got to do it twice, and I did a couple of B movies for Walt, too. Loved working over there.”
Van Dyke notably appeared in the popular 1964 film Mary Poppins as Bert.
New episodes of The Masked Singer air on Fox on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET. The next episode of The Masked Singer will air on March 8.
