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Jellyfish says competing on The Masked Singer was more nerve-wracking than the Olympics

Lauren Huff
·6 min read

Michael Becker/FOX

Warning: This article contains spoilers about Wednesday's episode of The Masked Singer.

The Jellyfish is swimming away from The Masked Singer after a brutal triple elimination on Wednesday night's semi-finals. The tentacled spectacle was unmasked to reveal snowboarder Chloe Kim, who became the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal when she won the women's snowboard halfpipe at just 17 years old at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Kim reminisced with EW about her time on the show, including her embarrassing first day on set, her special moment with panelist Ken Jeong, and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You were a big fan of The Masked Singer before signing on for the show, right? How did you react when the producers reached out?
CHLOE KIM: Yes, so my parents actually were obsessed with the Korean version of the show, where it kind of started. So they would always watch it on Korean news channels and all of that. I would jump in and watch with them, when we were all together. And we have these karaoke nights, too, sometimes at our house. One time, my sister was like, "Oh, you should go on The Masked Singer!" And I was like, "Actually, I might be!" And she was so excited and she was asking me all these questions that I didn't even know the answer to. It was still kind of early, so it wasn't set in stone. It was fun for me, because I knew how much my family loves this show, and how much I love to watch it with them and how fun it was. I love all the reveals and everyone's performances, and the costumes are always so amazing. So I was really excited to be on.

And you had never had any formal vocal training, is that correct?
No, nothing.

Wow! You sounded great. That's so impressive.
Thank you, thank you. I love to sing. I taught myself how to play guitar, so I'd always travel with the guitar while I was on the road. Singing is actually really therapeutic for me when I'm stressed or something. But I've never taken it seriously, it's just been a hobby of mine. And I got on the show, [and they told me] I'm gonna get a vocal coach. I thought I was just going in there and doing my thing, you know? I didn't know I'd get so much support from the show —all of these awesome people to help me out and help me improve my voice and stuff. It was honestly the best experience ever. I'm so grateful.

One of your sponsors is Monster Energy, and your costume is green and glows. Was that a nod to your sponsor?
It kind of just worked out that way. I didn't really think about that. The costume was really pretty, and I love it so much. Fitting it was really cool, and it's amazing. The costume team, they're so incredibly talented. They were putting all these cool pieces in and we'd kind of bounce ideas off of each other. There were a lot of moving pieces, and it was really fun to watch everything come together so perfectly. I was hoping I'd get a cool costume and it really worked out.

As a fan, what surprised you the most about what happens behind the scenes of the show?
I think it was really cool the process of getting there and leaving. When I was a spectator just watching, the show says no one knows who the other singers are and no one knows anything. And I didn't necessarily think that was serious, but they give you these jackets, and you're super incognito and you have no idea who anyone is. They have these visors that are all blacked out, and you can't see anyone, you can't see through them at all. You might get a glimpse of like one hair strand that's out, but people are quick to tell you to tuck it back in and hide it.

My first day I went to the set, and because I didn't know, I literally went in ripped jeans. Everyone was like, "Oh my gosh, you can't wear those!" People can't know you're a girl or anything about you. Oh my gosh. I was so insecure about my rips in my jeans and I was furiously trying to cover my knees. I don't want people to recognize me from my knees! Then the next time I rolled up in sweats — we were all good.

What's more nerve-wracking, competing on The Masked Singer or in the Olympics?
Definitely competing on The Masked Singer. I know some people are gonna find that hard to believe, but I feel like going into the Olympics I had a lot of sources. I had a lot of people telling me what to expect, because a lot of people I competed with had been and had experienced it. I'm really good friends with [Olympic gymnast] Laurie Hernandez, she's one of my best friends. So I would call her and be like, "Yo, what's up? What's the deal? What is it gonna be like? Give me the full rundown from A to Z." With The Masked Singer, though, I don't know anyone who's been on it personally, so I never had anyone to ask. And I can't ask either, because no one can know that I'm on the show. So I was really nervous about that, because I'm going in blind. I had no idea what to expect, but it was so fun. I highly recommend being on it. To anyone out there who's considering being on it, do it.

You had a special moment with panelist Ken Jeong during your reveal. Tell me about that.
Yeah, so I love Ken. I really respect him and his career. I think he's hilarious, and he's a fellow Korean American, which is awesome. We definitely bonded over that, and it was a super special moment for me especially because I just really appreciate Ken and am inspired by him and love everything about him. We just totally had this heart to heart, which is really cool. That was probably one of my favorite moments of being on the show.

After this, would you consider signing a record deal?
I don't know, maybe! I don't know if anyone wants me like that, but if they do, come my way. I'm down. I'm down to drop a few bangers.

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