Jenny McCarthy first revealed almost a decade ago that former Real Housewives of New York cast member Bethenny Frankel asked her to be on the Bravo show — and now we know why she said no.
“First of all, I don’t have the meanness anymore in my body,” the actress told Us Weekly ahead of the Wednesday night premiere of The Masked Singer. “I don’t have the money to keep up with the Housewives and I don’t want to be catty. I want to be as positive as possible.” Which is why FOX’s hit reality competition show, on which she’s a celebrity panelist, is a better fit.
That doesn’t mean McCarthy is completely opposed to a little deception. Though she hasn’t watched The Traitors yet, she would be open to appearing on season 3, which is currently casting.
“Maybe I’ll check it out. I do like mind games that are somewhat healthy,” she said. “But just as I’m getting older, I’m trying to surround myself with as positivity as possible.”
For those wondering if McCarthy has the competitive chops to succeed on a show like The Traitors, perhaps her drive on The Masked Singer could provide a clue.
“I act like it’s the Olympics and for me it is,” she said. “Listen, they get to win their own awards. They win singing awards. Ken [Jeong] can win his comedy awards. This is like my escape room award. So they did have a Golden Ear trophy that they implemented into the show for about three seasons, but I won them all. So they took it away.”
It should be no surprise, then, that for now, McCarthy is all in on The Masked Singer. She hyped up the premiere episode, promising a “next level” reveal that makes her think the show could eventually pull the biggest name of all.
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“It gave me hope that we can have Beyoncé on someday,” she said. “I didn’t wind up getting that person right because in my brain I thought, ‘you know what? There’s no way we can get that big of a celebrity.’”
McCarthy also teased theme nights, including one for The Wizard of Oz. She’s going to be the Good Witch (“of course,” she says), while Rita Ora will be Dorothy and Jeong will be the Cowardly Lion.
The Masked Singer premieres on Fox Wednesday, March 6 at 8 p.m. ET.
