‘The Masked Singer’s Scarecrow on Special Unmasking: ‘I Begged Fox to Let Me’

[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 saying she was bowing out and unmasking herself earlier than the viewers vote could possibly be tallied. And, because the celeb beneath 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 general public’s eye deliberately serving to the animals. It’s all I do proper now,” Blair tells TV Insider. “So I knew no one would guess me, and that’s what makes the present enjoyable.”

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 completed Grease on Broadway. I got here again from New York to California and a giant pit bull adopted me house on the peak 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 all types 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 completely different areas away from Louisiana, after which I took 51. I constructed this property in California as a short lived [place], however 16 years later, the disaster is overwhelming. There’s been loads 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 will’t assist all of them. The shelters are stuffed to the brim and having to euthanize completely great, companion animals, and none of us need that.

So I used to be requested to do The Masked Singer, and I believed, wow, what an excellent 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 come back 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 grasp we will’t assist all people. We’re making an attempt, however we want 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 succeed in out by having this unbelievable alternative Fox supplied me. I’m an enormous fan of the present, by no means thought I’d be on it, and once they requested, I used to be like, uh-oh, how am I gonna do that? But we did. So I’m so glad that persons 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 received’t go away my mates in want.

You positively obtained the phrase out since you shocked 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 right 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 muse and compete longer. At the time, it might have gone on for one more 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 need to 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, in order that they’re very needy, the place cats are extra impartial and horses and livestock are impartial. But canines are far needier and actually a mirror to folks to say, “Hey, I would like love and a spotlight and friendship as effectively.” And they provide 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, nevertheless it additionally regarded such as you had enjoyable messing with the panelists throughout it.

I did that on goal, my good friend. My purpose was to have enjoyable, do one thing actually completely different. It’s known as Masked Singer, not Masked Run Around the Stage Dancer. [Laughs] And Fox was good sufficient to let me do what I might do effectively, which was entertain. My predominant purpose was to actually have enjoyable with the panelists and attempt to get them to go, wait, what?

I don’t personally know all people. Robin Thicke I’ve recognized since he was seven years previous. His dad was one among my greatest mates and an unbelievable mentor for me once 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 pleased 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], among the finest entertainers on this planet, and I’m in awe of her present, her unbelievable persona, her humanity on prime of her magnificence. And Jen [McCarthy Wahlberg] is that this unbelievable soul who has entertained us for therefore a few years, is so lovely, has been by a lot, and she or he’s not solely standing, she’s type and goodness.

But Fox is the one that offers everybody the stage to have the ability to do the present, and I like the present. I used to be a fan. It would take me away for an hour every week to neglect 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.

It looks like you have been capable of have enjoyable as a result of the costume didn’t look as troublesome to maneuver in as others have been.

I requested them for a dressing up that was cell. I knew that I wanted to run round and leap round. What I didn’t know is the pinnacle was like balancing a waiter’s tray in your head. That was the toughest half. The hat, I had aviation wing dynamics happening throughout. [Laughs] That was the exhausting half, to not tip over.

No one on the panel guessed you, nevertheless it did really feel like among 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 beneath the masks. You solely have about two-inch vertical and about four-inch sideways. You can barely see and might’t hear very effectively. You have to actually 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 thing I had.

But really this was for the animals. So regardless of how exhausting it was for me, it’s not as exhausting as it’s for the animals which might be 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 abruptly 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 want assist.

The animals got here up within the clues package deal. “Turned loads of heads” was the clue I believed would result in folks guessing you.

I believed the clues have been fairly apparent myself. But I feel from the panelists’ viewpoint, 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 chuckle 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 obtained it. What can we do to assist?” 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’ll be able to think about is someplace in America in want of a house. And it’s not anyone’s fault. It’s the pandemic that brought on a lot issue for therefore many and there’s so many individuals battling melancholy and nervousness.

The Masked Singer, Special Thanksgiving Episode, Thursday, November 24, 8/7c, Fox