‘The Masked Singer’: Phoenix Reveals Famous Reality TV Daughters’ ‘Strange’ Reactions to Her Appearance

After Caitlyn Jenner was unmasked as the Phoenix on The Masked Singer Wednesday night, the famed Olympian and reality TV star is opening up about her famous kids’ reactions to her appearance on the fever dream singing competition. She wasn’t able to tell all six of her kids about the big secret but told Us Weekly that her daughters Kylie Jenner and Kendall Jenner gave her a “strange” look when she confided in them that she was doing the show.

“I’m excited for my family to see this. I had to keep this a big secret, but of course [my son] Brandon [Jenner] knew because he was helping,” the former Keeping Up With the Kardashians star, 71, said. “Kendall and Kylie, when I told them I was doing The Masked Singer, they gave me this strange look and said ‘Dad, why are you doing this?’ I told them, ‘I need a challenge! I’ve just been sitting around, I want to do this.’ They said, ‘You are crazy.’ I’m interested for Kendall and Kylie and the rest of my family to see it.”

Jenner’s musician son Brandon, 39, whom she shares with ex-wife Linda Thompson, helped her train for the show. “He has a studio in his house, so I went downtown to his studio where I could record it and I worked on the songs with him. It was really great,” she said. “Brandon got really into it and it was a big bonding moment for us. It was fun working on the songs with him.”

She added that she’s a little disappointed to be eliminated in the first round, as she had other songs up her sleeve for the next few rounds of competition. “I worked for two months on these three songs,” Jenner said. “I did ‘Tik Tok’ and I was going to do The Temptations song, ‘I Know You Wanna Leave Me,’ and I had a John Denver song. It was tough to get those down. If I were to go [and do] all the [songs] at the finals, I would have had to learn eight songs. It took me so long to get a couple of songs down.”

As for why the artist formerly known as Phoenix decided to give The Masked Singer a go, she said you can chalk it up to quarantine boredom. “I go months upon months with nothing to do with no challenges out there, and I’m just sitting on my butt I had nothing else going on,” she explained. “I come from the world where I run fast, jump over things and throw things far. I didn’t come from the singing world. I’ve always told my kids, ‘The ability to grow is directly related to the amount of insecurity you can take in your life.’ And boy, was I insecure about singing. So, I thought, ‘Let’s try this and put myself out there and try something I’ve never done before.’ If I’m telling my kids this, the least I could do is take my own advice. This was so out of my element when I said yes, I was nervous. They gave me a vocal coach and we worked on three songs to get down.”

Jenner was the second singer revealed on Season 5, joining the one and only Kermit the Frog on the sidelines of the competition after he was revealed as Snail during last week’s premiere. For more Masked Singer clues, guesses, performances and more, check out PopCulture’s extensive coverage. The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays on Fox at 8 p.m. ET. and new episodes can be watched starting Thursday mornings on Hulu.