The Super Six took the stage once again during the Jan. 27 episode of The Masked Dancer. At the end of the episode, Jersey Shore star Vinny Guadagnino was unmasked as the beefy Hammerhead. HollywoodLife talked EXCLUSIVELY with Vinny all about his Masked Dancer journey.
While it may have looked like it was easy to dance in the Hammerhead costume, it was anything but easy. Vinny revealed that he had to wear a 40-pound muscle suit to create the illusion of the Hammerhead, and it was a “struggle” to perform every week. He also opened up about the “intense” rehearsals and whether or not he’d be down to do Dancing With the Stars in the future. Read our Q&A below.
Why did you want to do The Masked Dancer? What intrigued you about the show?
Vinny Guadagnino: I’ve been a fan of The Masked Singer. It’s such a fun show. I always thought to myself, even though I don’t know how to sing, I would still love to figure out how to do that show, and I definitely would have. But when The Masked Dancer came along, I was like, it’s part of my favorite show family, but it is also something a little more in my wheelhouse. Even though I’m not a professional dancer, I can probably make dancing work more than I can make singing work. It was just a no-brainer, honestly.
How did you settle on the Hammerhead costume?
Vinny Guadagnino: So they just presented me with the costume. As soon as they just showed it to me, I was like, this is it. It made complete sense. It was perfect. It was fun, and I fell in love right from the beginning.
What was it like performing in the costume?
Vinny Guadagnino: It’s torture. I’m not going to lie. It is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, honestly. It’s hard enough for me to learn how to dance, but I have a 40-pound muscle suit on, I’m wearing this mask, you can’t see, you can’t really breathe, you can’t feel anything, you’re wearing gloves. So there’s another layer of challenge that people don’t really realize when they’re watching the show. They think you’re wearing a cute little costume. That thing is a challenge in itself. It was a struggle every week, but I tried to figure it out.
You said you had a 40-pound suit on?
Vinny Guadagnino: I had a muscle suit on because that was part of my illusion of being the Hammerhead was the jacked muscles. People thought that those were real muscles, but that was a suit. I’m very skinny in real life.
You are no stranger to TV and performing, but what was it like performing for the first time on The Masked Dancer stage in that costume?
Vinny Guadagnino: It was the hardest, most difficult thing and brave thing that I’ve ever had to do because I’ve danced and performed and hosted things or whatever, but I’d never really be judged. I never danced for people judging me. Also, it’s not my forte. I’m not a professional dancer. I don’t want to be judged in general, let alone for something that I’m learning for the first time. So I just kind of used it as fuel. I wanted to just prove this to myself and to the world that it’s something that I could do. After you do it, it’s the biggest rush in the world because it’s such a payoff for something that you never thought that you could do. But also, I will say that it’s such a fun environment. The panelists are all fine people. Craig [Robinson] is great. The producers couldn’t be nicer. It was a fun experience.
What were rehearsals like for you?
Vinny Guadagnino: The rehearsals were really intense. The first week I actually learned two dances at the same time. I’ve never learned any choreography, so I went from that to learning like one dance and another dance the next day and then get to go back to the first one. You have to practice and no one can know who you are except your dance partner, so you have to rehearse in a face shield, sweatshirt, gloves, and a mask. It was crazy, but I became addicted to the process. I literally was going back to my hotel room practicing every night because I wanted to nail it.
You are very dedicated to a keto lifestyle. Would you say that your lifestyle helped you in terms of stamina and energy when it came to practicing for the show?
Vinny Guadagnino: This is a very athletic type of thing, especially when your body isn’t used to a certain type of activity. Literally, I was limping the first week from dancing. I’ve been going to gyms my whole life, but I was like, oh my God, this is killing my body in a good way. I love the activity of it, the burning the calories of it. If I wasn’t as athletic as I am now and everything, then it would have been even more challenging for me.
Now that you’ve done The Masked Dancer, have you given any thought to maybe doing something else Dancing With the Stars?
Vinny Guadagnino: Yeah. Seriously, I love this type of show and the challenge of it. So I’m definitely open to that. But also, I really fell in love with the people and the production of this show and those other types of shows. I would love to be a guest panelist or judge or something like that, and just come back and share my experience because I had such a good time with this show. I’m also down to just keep dancing in general or whatever type of performance I could always do to entertain people.