Ricki Lake talks up ‘Masked Singer’
Quoth the Raven: It was really hard to keep quiet
PASADENA, Calif. – The latest unmasked celebrity on Fox’s “The Masked Singer” went against her own nature to keep her participation a secret.
Ricki Lake, the former talk-show host and actress revealed as the Raven at the end of Wednesday’s episode, told the Television Critics Association Wednesday that the secrecy was harder than the singing.
“The hardest part of this job has been keeping my mouth shut. On Instagram, everyone’s like, ‘Hi, Raven. Hi, Raven. Hi, Raven,’” she said of fan guesses after earlier performances on the firstseason hit. “I pride myself on my authenticity and being truthful, so it’s been really hard to keep it quiet.”
Lake also explained the lengths “Masked Singer” goes to in order to keep celebrity identities a secret.
“When the cars would pick me up (to head to tapings), they did not know my name,” she said. “When I arrived, they did not know what I was going to. The minute we got close to the studio, I was covered – It was hot in the summer! – with a giant hoodie and a visor.
“We could go right into my little (trailer) area and I would stay there. I didn’t have anyone accompanying me. I was alone.”
Executive producer Craig Plestis explained the extensive effort to keep celebrity identities hidden. Everyone involved in the production and the studio audience, which consisted mostly of friends and family members, had to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
“We did confiscate phones,” he said. “We did have every kind of piece of lawyer paper possible as well.”
Rob Wade, president of alternative programming at Fox, said only he and two other network executives know the identities of the masked singers.
“Everyone above us didn’t want to know because they were terrified that they’d give it away,” he said.
Lake credited judge Robin Thicke, a fan of her Emmy-winning talk show, with guessing Raven’s identity.
“From my gestures, you knew it was me,” she said to Thicke, who was joined by fellow panelists Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong and Nicole Scherzinger.
Lake hasn’t been nearly as good at guessing identities, and she attributes that partly to being separated from the other performers.
“I did not know who anybody else was,” she said. “Whenever we were in the vicinity, we were completely covered – the hoods, the visors,” she said. “There was very little interaction, only on show day, where I could maybe see the Bee from far away.
“I have not guessed anyone right.”