‘The Masked Singer’: Honey Pot Reveals What He Wishes He Had Been Able to Do

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 13 premiere “Lucky Season 13: Group A Premiere.”]

The Masked Singer returned for its lucky 13th season with a new group of costumed celebrities hoping to make it to the finale and take home the Golden Mask Trophy. And, of course, right away, one was sent home.

After performing “SexyBack” by Justin Timberlake, Honey Pot was, unfortunately, the one eliminated, and under the mask was comedian and actor Cedric the Entertainer (The Neighborhood). “I had my big outfit on. I had a couple of dance moves. I was a little nervous in that, trying to dance, stumbled a couple of times,” he admits. “I thought I was going to wipe out.” Below, he opens up more about his experience.

Talk about saying yes to doing The Masked Singer. Did you have any hesitations?

Cedric the Entertainer:  It did take a little while. I was asked a couple years in a row. It was one of those things that you see the competition, the level of the competition people are really going for on there, you’re like, “No, man.”

Talk about that costume. What appealed to you about it?

It was fun to be inside one but [there was] the size of it, the big scope. It was fun to pick this character that could be lovable and fun and dancing around. So the boots were really high and so you look kind of stylish [but it affects] your flexibility, your knees, you got the weight around your head.

What went into your song choice?

The choice came from the studio. They liked that song. That was the one that was the fun. I wanted to do some old blues song. I just was really trying to throw the crowd off and so they were like, “You’re a little too inside with your choices.” It ended up being a fun song.

Speaking of what you wanted to perform, did you have any specific songs in mind that you wanted to do if you’d continued on?

Yeah, if I continued, my main choice was — I just watched the Luther Vandross documentary on CNN and I wanted to a Luther song or a little more of a ballad like that or from the ‘70s, things I felt like really landed in my range.

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Talk about the panelists’ guesses. Ken Jeong was the first to figure you out.

Yeah, that was my biggest concern. I have relationships with everybody, from Nick [Cannon] to Robin Thicke, we hang out sometimes. Ken I’ve seen on many occasions, and Rita Ora. So I was surprised. Robin kind of mentioned that he thought it might be me, then when Ken was like, ‘Nah, this is my guy.’ So that was one of my biggest things. I had to be careful just talking with my regular voice or I mean they would alter my voice, but it was one of those things where just making sure that nobody could tell it was me in any kind of normal way. I didn’t get to do my real cool dance moves, which I think also threw people off because normally I’m a little lighter on my feet.

Also when people think of comedy, they of course think of you.

And honey, just as soon as you see honey.

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

I think it’s just fun. The electric energy in the studio is always great. The panelists are having a great time there. The biggest thing I guess for me is wishing I could have stayed around at least one more week to do a song that I felt like I could have just really nailed.

What surprised you the most about being on the show?

I think that that high level of secrecy. It is intense. The moment you pull up, you can’t even get out the car without being masked out, blacked out. Nobody gets to know who you are except for the costume makers and the people who are doing your audio. But for the most part you are hidden from that whole crew of people, everybody doing somebody else’s costume or anything else, they don’t get to see who’s over there. So I was surprised that it was that intense. Even when you go to lunch, they bring you your lunch, you stay in your trailer, everything is top secret.

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