The Masked Singer had a rare occurrence during Season 9's "Masked Singer In Space" episode. Panelist Ken Jeong, who is usually known for his off-the-wall guesses and atrociously low success rate of predicting the identities of celebrities, was actually right on the money with a guess that stumped the rest of the panel. Now, following her unmasking as The Dandelion, actress Alicia Witt revealed the emotional reason why she wanted to hug Jeong after he correctly guessed her identity.
Alicia Witt is, of course, well known in the world of acting, folks may be unaware of her accomplished music career. As such, much of the crowd groaned and booed when Ken Jeong made his guess. Witt revealed in an interview with CinemaBlend that while the heckling was happening, she was "freaking out" underneath the Dandelion mask:
I was freaking out behind the mask when he guessed me right. Of course, I was trying with my body to indicate he was wrong because the audience obviously believed he was wrong...I guess they didn’t know perhaps that I could do that with the singing and the playing all of it. That was an honor but I was also very flattered and blown away at how many of my things Ken had seen and he was obviously coming from such a genuine place when he was talking about his passion for believing why he thought it was me.
You can't deny Ken Jeong's passion, even when he's going down a rabbit hole with a ridiculously weird theory. However, Jeong's guess for Dandelion being Alicia Witt wasn't all that ridiculous, however, because the audience and rest of the panel knew her primarily as an actress, they weren't on board with his reasoning. Hey, I've seen enough of Jeong guessing to know they were right to be suspicious.
While the audience was impressed with Ken Jeong's guessing ability, no one in the room might've been quite as thankful to see he guessed Alicia Witt as the actress herself. As she indicated above, Witt confirmed to CinemaBlend that she was immensely honored that Jeong knew so much of her work, and she wanted to give him a hug for his support, explaining:
When I ended up getting unmasked in that same episode, all I wanted was to crowd surf over to him and give him a massive hug. Not because he got it right…I was just honored that he’s seen so much that I’ve done. It’s a really beautiful moment. I was trying so hard not to cry when I got unmasked. I cried pretty hard when I got backstage, though.
Following her elimination on The Masked Singer, Alicia Witt released a new song titled "Witness." The song, which is a "deeply personal anthem," details a rough year she experienced after battling breast cancer and coping with the sudden loss of her parents. Check out the song below, and see Witt's talents as a singer on display yet again:
While Alicia Witt was only able to compete in The Masked Singer for one episode, her musical journey will continue beyond that. Witt confirmed to CinemaBlend that she's working on her upcoming album in between other acting gigs she has lined up for the future. It's a shame her run on The Masked Singer didn't go further, but at least more people out there know about her talent as both an actor and a singer.
Alicia Witt was just one actress with a singing talent the world didn't know about unmasked that night. The Lamp was later unmasked, and it was Melissa Joan Hart, who confessed she wasn't someone who had sung in public before coming on the show. Perhaps these two can link up and record a dual album, because I think the world needs to hear more of both of them in the future!
The Masked Singer Season 9 airs on Fox every Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. ET. This season is absolutely flying by, so catch up if you need to with a Hulu subscription, and tune in for the remaining episodes each week.
