Dog The Bounty Hunter is a television institution unto himself, and whether it’s a new television series or a nationwide manhunt in a high-profile case, he always seems to spring up. Recently, he appeared in a place I’m sure few folks expected to see him: The Masked Singer. The famed bounty hunter (in one of the reality show’s most shocking reveals) took his talents to the Fox singing competition, and surprisingly enough, not even he could unlock the show’s many secrets.
I had a chance to talk to Dog The Bounty Hunter about his elimination on The Masked Singer (stream Season 7 with a Hulu subscription) and asked if his decades in bounty hunting could help him solve a hypothetical crime on The Masked Singer set. The reality star shared that he actually tried to learn the identities of his fellow co-stars and wasn’t able to get any details, even with all his experience. He explained,
It’s really tough because I went from the valet guys – you know what I mean – to all the way trying to find out who my competition was, okay? It was silent. You could not break Fox’s code of silence. And I do that for a living. Break the code.
Many celebrities speak about the level of security and secrecy required for The Masked Singer, but none of them are real-life bounty hunters. Hearing it from Dog gives the whole thing a lot more weight and perhaps shows why leaks so rarely happen regarding contestants’ identities.
Dog The Bounty Hunter went on to say that a lot of what makes it so hard to get details on The Masked Singer is due to how protected the identities of contestants are kept. He likened it to someone working with the FBI and said that process of testifying in court is not unlike performing on The Masked Singer:
[It’s] like you’re a high snitch for the FBI and they bring you into court with, you know, a mask on, and then they swoop you out into the car? Exactly like that. From the time we left the room I didn’t see anybody.
The Masked Singer brought Dog The Bounty Hunter out from his space to sing, and then after that, it was back to where he was before. The series famously doesn’t allow contestants to watch other performances unless they’re active on the stage with the other competitors, possibly to further prevent any leaks.
Dog The Bounty Hunter revealed that while performing is new to him, he’s watched The Masked Singer as far back as Season 1. As a fan, he talked about what it’s like to experience the elements of the show viewers see at home and how that impacted him. He told me,
The only thing you’ve got is clues of who it is. The voice, you see how psychologically without seeing the person, whether you know – you know Chaka Khan was on there, right? And they didn’t guess her. No matter what you think, the mask does something. [It] numbs one of our senses which is sight, and it’s just incredible to actually see that. You couldn’t know who was who, what was going on, what the competition sounded like. You couldn’t hear them sing ahead of you, none of that. They run a tight ship, as they say.
As Armadillo, Dog The Bounty Hunter made it a good way into the competition, though ultimately fell victim to Season 7’s double elimination (the latest was particularly crushing and controversial). As the latest eliminated contestant of The Masked Singer, he can get back to fighting crime and maybe find another television project after his latest show was canceled.
The Masked Singer airs on Fox on Wednesdays at 8:00 pm ET. With so many contestants out already, it’ll be interesting to see who is left and who will ultimately go on to win Season 7.
