‘The Masked Singer’: Starfish on ‘Fun Little Secret’ Everyone Now Knows About Her

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 11 Episode 7 “Group A Finals: Queen Night.”]

As The Masked Singer Season 11 continues and with each elimination, chances are someone who won over the crowd will go home.

After the Group A Finals, Goldfish is the one to move on. Ugly Sweater was the first eliminated and revealed to be singer Charlie Wilson. Then, after facing Goldfish in a Battle Royale, Starfish was unmasked: The Office star Kate Flannery!

Below, Flannery opens up about her time on the show.

What made you say yes to doing The Masked Singer?

Kate Flannery: I really liked the challenge of performing on live TV. When I did Dancing With the Stars, it was a much better experience than I had hoped for, and I felt the same way about Masked Singer. It was just really fun, really challenging, but really interesting, and being in a costume that you could barely walk in, but the people have such a strong response to immediately… I sort of felt like a walking, animated character. It was really fun.

Did you have any hesitations?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I wondered if I was in over my head, but the crew is great, the judges are great. Everybody on the show, [including] the producers, really take care of you. So I felt pretty good.

You brought up that costume—the Starfish was adorable. So what appealed to you about it?

[With] the second show, which was Transformers Night, I felt like the little mouse in American Tail—”Somewhere Out There.” I just felt like there was a take on the song that was kind of sweet and hopeful and a little sad because I felt like Starfish was really fun. But she can tug at your heartstrings. These artists that make these costumes are amazing.

What went into your song choices?

Sometimes there’d be a few we looked at that we ended up not using, but they sort of picked. I was like, “Whatever you guys want. I just feel like I’m new to the show. I’m not driving the bus. You guys tell me where you go.” But yeah, it was fun. I thought the vocal coaches were great and it was fun to sing Madonna—who doesn’t love a fun little “Material Girl” song? And it was really fun to get to sing Queen. I actually did a duet by myself. [Laughs] Talk about being “Under Pressure.” I really was.

Did you have any songs or a genre in mind that you wanted to tackle if you continued on?

We almost did a Patsy Cline song. I was a little bit disappointed, but that’s okay. It’s fun to sing Green Day.

Talk about the panelists’ guesses, because Ken Jeong did figure you out.

I know! What the heck? Community was on the same night as The Office and we’ve done press. I’ve known Ken for years. But luckily the show is not just about the panel guessing.

Have you been hearing from anyone—friends, family, co-stars—over the past weeks who figured out it was you?

My sisters have said that people that they work with are asking, and I didn’t want to tell anybody because I didn’t want to put anybody in a bad spot. So I said I was on last season, I gave a clue with Lance Bass, that’s my Masked Singer experience. That’s true. So I hope they’re not mad at me.

What are you going to take away from the entire experience?

It’s really hard to wear a shirt that says “Don’t talk to me” because I want to talk to everybody. But I had a great time. And I will say it’s one of those things where I’m so lucky as a performer that I get to do these really fun things that involve my training and my skills and some things you think you’re never going to do in your life. I sing with Jane Lynch every Christmas; we do a tour. We’re hosting a benefit next month for Alzheimer’s. And we do get to sing sometimes, but a lot of people don’t know I sing. When I was on The Office, they said, “Meredith doesn’t really sing.” I feel like it’s a fun little secret to have in my back pocket because not everybody knows. So now they know, whether they like it or not.

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What surprised you the most about being on the show?

It was hard to move in my costume, so I was kind of getting exhausted because I had these little, short steps I had to take and I couldn’t move my arms very much. Even just to do a full star was really hard to get my hands all up. So never judge anybody until you walk a mile in their Starfish costume. It was a lot, but it was really, really fun and I really loved the challenge.

Is there anything else you want to share about your experience on The Masked Singer?

I am really grateful. Maybe I should have been a mascot instead of an actor. I really had fun with my costume and the support just in the room of the fans and the judges. I’m super grateful. And to be compared to some of the talent that they were confusing me with is above and beyond my expectations. I’m in good company if people think I’m Amy Poehler, Catherine O’Hara, Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph. I’m having a good day. It’s good.

So you’ve done Dancing with the Stars, now The Masked Singer. Is there another competition show you want to do?

I don’t know. I don’t think I’m a Big Brother person. Not The Bachelor because I’m taken.  My boyfriend had to wear that outfit, the “Don’t talk to me” sweatshirt, too, because he is a photographer for TV, so a lot of the crew knows him. So we were like, “Oh no, we gotta hide.” Not Survivor. I feel like show business is like being on Survivor. It’s in Hollywood instead of the jungle.

The Masked Singer, Wednesdays, 8/7c, Fox