Gloria Gaynor and Mario Cantone on being voted off ‘The Masked Singer,’ how they kept it a secret from friends & family, and how one woman helped them through the process
(Photo courtesy of the family of Gloria Gaynor)
“I cried. I didn’t want to keep that from my family,” remembers Gloria Gaynor, whose mother had died when Gaynor was 13. “It was very hard to do the show. I was so nervous. But I knew my life was in jeopardy the second I signed up.”
“Gloria is a very brave, courageous girl,” says her father, Mario Cantone. “She was very emotional, but never once did she show the slightest regret or regret about what she did.”
The pair’s high-profile celebrity status and the amount of media attention that came with it prompted speculation about where the show would end up. NBC, the network that produces “The Masked Singer,” announced late last month that the show was set to end, but a new decision from the network is expected Monday morning.
The cancellation of “The Masked Singer” comes on the heels of a similar decision to cancel the NBC program “The Voice.” The musical competition series aired for four seasons, and was last set to return in 2016.
“The Masked Singer” didn’t end with a bang. But the end was inevitable, for both of the contestants involved.
“There comes a time where you say ‘enough, enough, enough,’” says Gaynor, whose show, which was taped at NBC Studios, was filled with laughs and tension while it lasted. “There’s a line. And I crossed it, for sure.”
A version of this story appeared on the website of The Hollywood Reporter