Caitlyn Jenner was unmasked as the powerful Phoenix during the March 17 episode of The Masked Singer. Caitlyn had taken the stage earlier in the show and sang Kesha’s hit “Tik Tok” for the panelists. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Caitlyn about the show, and she admitted that she only told daughters Kendall and Kylie Jenner that she was doing the show.
“My kids are very, very good at keeping secrets. The only ones I told were Kendall and Kylie,” the 71-year-old told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “I said, ‘Girls, I’m doing this show that you can’t tell anybody about.’ They’re very good with secrets. And I said, ‘I’m doing The Masked Singer.’ Both of them in unison go, ‘Why are you doing this?!’ I started laughing and said, ‘Because I can! I tell you guys all the time go out there into the world, take some chances… Here I am sitting around during this horrible pandemic that everybody has been affected by and it’s out of my element. I’m going to try it. It should be fine. I got asked to do it, so why not do it?’ And they said, ‘Good luck.'”
When asked whether Kendall or Kylie would fare better on The Masked Singer, the KUWTK star said, “Kylie can probably get away with the vocals probably better than anyone. The other one that’s really obvious is Brandon [Jenner], but he’s in the business. Kylie probably can handle the vocals the best. Kendall not too much. But I think as far as choreography, Kendall would probably be better. We would need a combination where it would be Kylie’s voice and Kendall doing the choreography. A person in the middle would probably be the best.”
Caitlyn also admitted that she has been asked in the past to do The Masked Singer. The Olympian revealed how she finally came around to saying yes to the show. “They had called in the past and asked me to do The Masked Singer. I said, no, it’s not my thing,” Caitlyn told HollywoodLife. “I came from the world where you run fast, jump over things, and you throw things far. That’s kind of my background. I’ve never been known for my vocal expertise. But this pandemic, the whole world’s locked down. It’s been tough for everybody. I’ve got a lot of energy in life. I like doing things, I like working, I like traveling, getting things done. That’s always what I’ve done for the last 30-40 years. Actually, more than 50 years. So they called and asked me, and I thought to myself, why not? I love the challenge. I always told my kids and had them repeat after me, ‘The ability to grow is directly related to the amount of insecurity you can take in your life.’ You got to work out there in those insecure areas because then that becomes your new norm, and then you get uncomfortable and go to that next level. That’s how you grow. You work in these insecure areas so they become normal. I’ve been preaching that to my kids for so many years, so I thought, well, maybe I should follow my great wisdom that I had bestowed upon my children because they’ve all done that. So I said, why not? Let’s do it. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.”
Caitlyn’s Phoenix costume on The Masked Singer was nothing short of stunning. Caitlyn raved that the show’s costume designers are “unbelievable.” She revealed that designing the Phoenix started two months before filming. “I wanted a costume that was not too feminine, not too masculine,” Caitlyn said. “It was kind of in the middle because my voice really doesn’t match who I am. I get that. I get criticized for it all the time. But that’s okay. I can handle it. So I thought, you know what, I think they would have a really hard time trying to figure this thing out. We started coming up with some sketches. That’s why I have this kind of a long skirt with a long trail, but I also have pants on underneath. Even the name Phoenix could be masculine or feminine. It can kind of go both ways. My costume took them the longest to make out of any of the costumes, but what a staff they have over there with the costume design. Those people are unbelievable. Every time I came back for fittings it got bigger and better.”
Even though the costume was “heavy,” Caitlyn admitted that it was “comfortable.” However, the headpiece — or “helmet,” as Caitlyn called it — was the most difficult aspect of the look. “When you put the helmet on, you lose your visibility,” Caitlyn said. “You leave it on for just as little amount of time as you need to go out there and do your thing. When I started, we worked on a little bit of choreography to go along with this song. When I put the whole costume on, they had to be careful about those wings that I had on. They were fit very snugly to me. When you started moving around those wings were kind of, like, whoa! So that took a little bit of work. We kind of came down on some of the choreography just because it was tough to move around in it. You can only move forward and backward.”