Celebrities live different lives than the rest of us and deal with adoring fans on a a consistent basis. With that said, just because someone is famous doesn’t mean that they too can’t get starstruck from time to time. Even NSYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick has his heroes, and meeting one of them recently on The Masked Singer caused him to “lose his mind.”
Chris Kirkpatrick was unmasked on The Masked Singer as Hummingbird, but he wasn’t the only celebrity unmasked on that night (check our full list of Season 8 reveals here). Audiences also learned that The Knight was Star Trek actor William Shatner and that The Hedgehog was Monty Python’s Eric Idle (who revealed some big news following the episode). Kirkpatrick said he didn’t immediately know Shatner was on the show with him, but broke down what happened once he had an idea he’d soon get to meet Idle:
I was backstage when they got revealed. They got revealed one at a time. William Shatner I didn’t hear and I didn’t know until I went out at the end and I saw him sitting there. But, Eric Idle when I was backstage, I heard only because I was walking away and I heard him do the Monty Python song, ‘Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life,’ as his kind of outro song. I just lost my mind. The minute I heard that I was like, ‘That’s one of the Monty Python guys. That’s gotta be Michael Palin, Eric Idle,’ one of those. I was a huge, huge, fan of Monty Python. So much so that after we all got revealed, I ran over to his dressing room and just had to shake his hand and take a picture with him. It was awesome.
Chris Kirkpatrick was so thrilled that he’d be meeting someone from Monty Python that he couldn’t help but fanboy out just a bit and get a picture. Fortunately for him, The Masked Singer Season 8 is a season with multiple eliminations an episode. Had he been in this same situation in a prior season, he wouldn’t have been able to meet Eric Idle, as he’d have to continue to remain anonymous.
The singer noted that he was also thrilled to meet William Shatner once he learned he was there later in the show. Chris Kirkpatrick shared his experience of standing alongside two icons, and what he was feeling while hanging out with them:
And of course, William Shatner’s a legend. He’s so iconic that he’s beyond iconic. It was so neat to share a stage with them and to have those moments where they’re joking around with me and I’m looking over and like, ‘That’s William Shatner and Eric Idle joking with me right now.’ It’s really kind of surreal.
All three men were, unfortunately, sent home during The Masked Singer Season 8 premiere. The format of the new season differs from those of the past, in which only one contestant who performs in the episode will advance to the next round. The end result is viewers have a lot less time to predict the identities of celebrities, and that more contestants leave after only doing one performance.
For Chris Kirkpatrick, it was a short run. Kirkpatrick joked in our interview that he performed just as well in The Masked Singer as he did in Season 3 of Celebrity Big Brother. Ironically enough, there’s another Celebrity Big Brother alum who competed on The Masked Singer, Todrick Hall, and his performance mirrored how he finished in both games as well. Hall finished runner-up in both shows, but I’m assuming left The Masked Singer with fewer harsh words compared to the Celebrity Big Brother finale. Perhaps Kirkpatrick is onto something with this phenomenon?
The Masked Singer airs on Fox Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m ET. Tune in to see how singers progress through the competition and which celebrities will get unmasked week-to-week. Also, be sure to check out the 2022 TV premiere dates for a look at what’s coming over the next few weeks.
