‘The Masked Singer’: S’More On The Performance That Nearly Went Wrong
SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from Wednesday’s episode of The Masked Singer, including the identity of S’More.
Another one bites the dust on The Masked Singer.
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Wednesday’s episode featured a Disco Night showdown between S’More, Cow and Gazelle. After a rousing rendition of KC and the Sunshine Band’s “That’s The Way (I Like It),” the campfire treat was sent packing. But not before their identity was revealed to be O-Town’s Ashley Parker Angel.
If you’ve been following along this season, then it’ll not be a shock that judge Jenny McCarthy was thrilled by the revelation, since she’d guessed the former boy bander back on 2000s night. She doubled down on the guess during disco night, as well.
Parker Angel spoke with Deadline about performing on The Masked Singer stage and the performance that almost spelled an earlier downfall (literally) for S’More.
DEADLINE: What inspired you to say yes to doing The Masked Singer?
ASHLEY PARKER ANGEL: Well, I had taken a break from performing for a little while, and I have been a fan of The Masked Singer. A lot of family and friends that are also totally obsessed with the show. It’s such a watchable, fun show, nothing like it in existence. It’s a completely unique show. So when the call came through, to be honest, I’ve been passing on a lot of things that had come my way. I pivoted out of entertainment for the past several years since the pandemic, and it’s just the perfect show at the perfect time. I can’t think of a better show to be making sort of a return back to the stage again. So it’s really exciting to be part of it.
DEADLINE: You have so much experience performing, but like you said, it’s been a while. Were there any nerves associated with that?
PARKER ANGEL: Oh, totally. Yes, absolutely, because as much as I had performed and had a boy band background and Broadway performance experience, I had never performed in a giant S’More costume [with] really big marshmallow legs, graham cracker body, this huge mask I’m in. So there was an element of overcoming that challenge. And each performance, I felt like I got a little better and a little better as I went along. But my stage legs came back pretty quickly. I was really grateful for my background, on Broadway in particular, because things do go wrong on Broadway all the time. You have to be so on your toes. To answer your question about the nerves, there is such an adrenaline rush when it’s time to do the show and the audience is there, nerves are always going to be there. Doesn’t matter what a well-seasoned performer you are, you’re always going to have nerves. And so that background helped me.
DEADLINE: Well you mentioned being able to stay on your toes when things go wrong. Did anything go differently than you expected it to on The Masked Singer?
PARKER ANGEL: The very first performance, actually. ‘Slow Hands,’ Niall [Horan] being from One Direction, that was kind of a nod to my boy band past, being in O-Town. Everybody always said he looks like my younger brother, out of all the different boy banders. So I thought that would be kind of a fun nod to the boy band history. But I actually tripped going up the stairs. After the very first verse, I moved from being in the audience, and I go up the stairs, and I tripped. I caught myself, but it really could have gone the wrong way, because I could have tripped off the staircase. There’s moments where you’re really close to the edge of the stage. And I’ll be honest, at times, you can’t really see out of the mask very well. So it’s a little terrifying, because you might go right off the stage. In the early part of the song, to trip, I was like, ‘No, no, this cannot be…We’re not falling down on the stage.’ Because if that would have happened, I don’t think I could have gotten up by myself in this big costume. So you can’t let your mind go there. The show must go on. I caught myself, and I just got right back in. So thankfully I caught myself and it didn’t actually fall on my S’More ass. That would have not been good.
DEADLINE: By disco night, Jenny McCarthy says you look like you’ve gained some confidence. You were even busting out some dance moves.
PARKER ANGEL: It was the practice that I was getting as S’More. They were like, ‘Are you up for doing choreography?’ And I was like, ‘Hell yes. Give me all the choreography, as much as we possibly can.’ Then I actually got into the costume. And I was like, ‘Whoa, this is a real challenge.’ So being that I’ve been really focused on fitness in the past several years, I think also gave me an advantage. I came into the show with pretty good conditioning. So that helped. But to answer your question, each performance, I did feel like I learned a little bit more how to perform in this S’More costume, which is a learning curve in and of itself.
DEADLINE: Were you expecting anyone to guess your identity? Jenny was right on the money from 2000s Night, which was impressive.
PARKER ANGEL: I thought so too. I was kind of freaking out when she guessed me, Because it was 2000s night. I was thinking, ‘Is this going to be the night?’ It would have been kind of poetic because that’s my era. That’s my decade. But you know, I do think the clue of S’More with the dumbbells doing a workout, I think that was the one that gave it away. I did think if anybody got it, I thought it would be Jenny, because like she said, she knows her MTV. There’s obviously the boy band connection there with Donnie [Wahlberg, McCarthy’s husband]. So I thought maybe this is the night I’m gonna go out. But then I obviously got to do the smackdown with Pickle and S’More survives for another round. But yeah, when they actually guess you, you’re kind of nervous. You don’t want to give it away either. You don’t want to do anything in your physicality that would confirm. You want to keep it a mystery, obviously. That was an interesting night, when she actually guessed who I was, because a lot of the guesses I thought were they were getting warmer and warmer as they went along.
DEADLINE: Has anyone else in your life, who maybe didn’t know you were doing the show, guessed you were behind S’More?
PARKER ANGEL: Yes, And I have not been responding to text messages. Especially when Jenny guessed me, I started getting a lot of people reaching out. But the whole show is based on keeping it a mystery. So you got to keep that anonymity, because that’s what it’s all hinging on. That’s what makes it exciting.
DEADLINE: Do you have a favorite performance?
PARKER ANGEL: I really loved disco night. I was getting competitive at that point, because I had survived. this is my fourth performance. You have to ready to yourself that you might go out on your first night. You have no idea. So by the time I got to my fourth performance, I’m like, ‘Game on. Let’s go the distance.’ So I love disco music. I love 70s. KC and the Sunshine Band, ‘That’s The Way (I Like It)’ is actually my all time favorite disco song. It was really cool that I got to do that one, because I’ve sort of been singing it my whole life already. So I had a lot of practice singing that song in particular, and they did give me a lot of really cool choreography to do too. And like I said, by that point in time, I felt like I was really getting a feel for this S’More costume. I felt like that was maybe one of my best performances.
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