On Wednesday, singer Jennifer Holliday was finally unmasked as Miss Teddy on “The Masked Singer.”
The Grammy-winning artist got her start performing in Broadway musicals, such as “Dreamgirls,” before she eventually found her way to “The Masked Singer” stage in the seventh season of the Fox musical guessing game show.
In the final round of Group B, Miss Teddy performed “Mercy” by Duffy. However, two contestants had to go home this week, and Ringmaster was selected to move on for the final round, meaning that Armadillo and Miss Teddy had to be unmasked and sent home.
Jennifer Holliday Unmasked As Miss Teddy On ‘The Masked Singer’
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Nicole Scherzinger and guest judge Leslie Jordan guessed Jennifer Holliday correctly, giving Nicole two correct guesses on Wednesday night. Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg guessed Gloria Gaynor. Robin Thicke picked Karen Clark Sheard. Ken Jeong went with Yolanda Adams.
After her unmasking, Jennifer told host Nick Cannon that “I believe it was destined to be. “From your very first season, my fans have been trying to guess as if it were me. So I think they have kind of brought me here for this. I was thinking about my fans, who have given me so much love and support.”
Nicole called her “a living legend” and said “I used to pretend I was you in my room growing up.”
Several of the clues that pointed to Jennifer being behind Miss Teddy was the laughing emoji, that stood for her reoccurring role in the comedy “Ally McBeal.” The Eddie Murphy clue was a nod to his role in “Dreamgirls,” for the Broadway play that she starred in. The Supreme Court judges were also a nod to her role, as she starred in “Dreamgirls” as one of the Supremes.
Jennifer Holliday ‘Was Hoping To Go All The Way’
In a post unmasking interview shared by “The Masked Singer” on their social media channels, Holliday admitted, “I was hoping to go all the way but I still think that it went very well so I’m very pleased.”
“I hope my fans were happy to see me on ‘The Masked Singer’ because so many of them loved the show and have loved it from the very first season and they are often trying to guess as if it were me,” she said. “I was just so tickled under my costume, because I was like, okay, they are not guessing this.”
“I am mostly a ballad singer,” she explained. “No one knows me for singing up-tempo songs, only a few, a Taylor Dane song, and even the Demi Lovato song is my fans would not expect to hear me singing something like that so I did want to try something totally different so people could be thrown off.”
“Then, with each show, I got to develop, you know, her little personality mixed with some of my own, so I think that was my… my favorite part of trying to bring a character to life.”
Jennifer Holliday Reveals That Miss Teddy Is Actually A Heavy Costume!
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Although Miss Teddy looked lighter than some of the mother more difficult costumes that contestants had to wear this season, Jennifer explained that the teddy bear costume was deceptively heavy.
“Miss Teddy was very unique in the sense that it looks like it’s light but it’s very heavy and yes, there is a built-in ice pack so I won’t get so warm. So, at first it was a challenge, because I wanted to move, do some dance steps and stuff, because I knew that would help throw the panelists off.”
“When they approached me about the show, and they were telling me that I was going to be on Team Cuddly, I just love that name and then when I saw Teddy, I just fell in love with her because I really felt that America needed a great big warm hug,” she said. “I just hope that the audience did get that joy and that warm hug that I was trying to give them.”
Last night, the Armadillo was also up for elimination. Check out who was underneath the mask and their post-unmasking interview by clicking here!
“The Masked Singer” airs on Wednesday nights at 8 PM EST on Fox.
