SPOILER ALERT! Do not read this if you don’t want to know the identity of The Pickle, the latest amateur crooner to be booted from The Masked Singer on Fox.
Hey, The Pickle isn’t sour about getting the boot.
The comedian/actor beneath the costume would have preferred a few more weeks on the show, though. Even though he’s not a trained singer — heck, the guy didn’t even perform in a high school — he would have liked the chance to traipse around at least one more week as a seasoned cucumber in a top hat.
Here, The Pickle, aka actor Michael Rapaport, talks about his ouster and how fans made it a challenge to maintain his anonymity.
DEADLINE: You have such a big presence on social media. So many people follow you just to hear your Trump screeds. Were you fearful the judges would figure out it was you because of social media?
MICHAEL RAPAPORT: I mean, I was fearful just because of my presence and the way I speak. You want to do your best to not be found out. That’s part of the fun of it. You want to do your best to perform at the highest level that you’re capable of. So all those things were part of my nerves. I was very proud that they didn’t figure me out until I took the mask off. I really just had such a fun time doing it.
DEADLINE: Was the show after you for a couple of seasons or did the offer just show up in your inbox this year?
RAPAPORT: It was just this year they asked me about doing it. Once you start doing it, the competitive aspect, you’re like I want to win. I want to keep going. Because I was having such a fun time, I wish I could have kept going. But I’m very proud of the way it turned out.
DEADLINE: So is now when you tell me you actually played Curly in Oklahoma in high school, that you had a whole musical theater background?
RAPAPORT: I wish I had a better musical theater background. I probably could have conquered and won the season. But no, this was the first time I’ve ever sung, and certainly the first time I’ve sung in a pickle costume. But it might not be the last, that’s all I’m saying. It might not be the last.
DEADLINE: So what was life like as the Pickle? Was it relatively easy or did it get hot real quick?
RAPAPORT: The heat wasn’t a part of it. I thought I was going to be very hot. I thought it was going to smell funny. It was more just the constraint. It was a whole thing to get into the costume and that was challenging. I was like, ‘I can’t dance when I don’t have a pickle costume on. How am I going to do this?’ But you get comfortable with it and you get used to it and you just have to commit to it. You can’t be in your head and you can’t second guess yourself. So I just jumped all the way in.
DEADLINE: How much choice did you have in your songs? Did they immediately recommend certain titles or was it all up to you?
RAPAPORT: We practiced a few different songs. I think they picked good songs from me. They know what they’re doing and they want to see you do well. They don’t want to make anybody look bad. I think their intention is for everybody to succeed whether you win or not, whether you go to the next level. I was just really happy that I was able to go as far as I did.
DEADLINE: Did anyone at home, any of your friends, immediately call and say, ‘dude, I know you’re doing the show?’
RAPAPORT: A bunch of people called me, a bunch of people texted me, a bunch of social media people that I don’t know were DMing me. People were screaming at me on the street. And these are fans, so you don’t want to be rude. I took the non-disclosure part extremely seriously. I didn’t want to tell people what’s what, but these people are definitely fans of mine and that listen to my podcast or whatever. I’m still hearing from them.
DEADLINE: What’s going on with your comedy tour? What do you talk about?
RAPAPORT: My next show is in Chicago. I’m touring different cities throughout the end of the year. I talk about a lot of things. I talk about, obviously, myself. I like the show to be as personal as possible. I talk about being married, I talk about being divorced. I talk about social issues. I talk about being a parent. I talk about being a son. I talk about my love for reality TV and I’m sure that I’ll start talking about being on The Masked Singer because it was a funny experience.
