ET spoke with McCarthy about what fans can expect on the new 'Masked Singer' season.
Jenny McCartney is ready to kick off season 4 of The Masked Singer. "I thrive on the competition," the TV personality tells ET's Nischelle Turner ahead of show's premiere. McCarthy, along with panelists Ken Jeong, Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke, returned to the stage on Wednesday, with new safety protocols put in place amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Aside from giving ET a special behind-the-scenes look at the set, she also teased some pretty amazing performances coming up.
"Because [artists] couldn't go on tour we were like, 'Oh, we're gonna get some fantastic celebs. There's no excuses as to why you can't do the show!'" she shared. "So I think people will be pleasantly surprised right out of the gate. First episode you'll be going, 'Oh my god! Here we go again.' They seem to level up, and I also think it's because a lot of these celebrities, artists, are watching it with their families and they want to have fun. They want to surprise their kids, and we've been seeing that as a recurring theme."
"We were like, 'Why are you doing this show, you're so famous?' And they'll say, 'You know, I wanted to surprise my kid,'" McCarthy explained.
As for how it felt without having a live audience, McCarthy said it felt like she was at the GRAMMYs, sitting front and center, and didn't mind not having the added people.
"All these artists, one after another are coming out and performing for you," she explained. "We as judges felt like we didn't need the audience. I thought Ken might have needed one for his amazing jokes, but he did a good job without one. But the artists, they can't see the audience anyways because of those masks. So to me, I don't think anyone missed it too much. It didn't do any damage. In fact, I think it kind of made us even more creative."
Jeong, on his end, also told ET that in his opinion season 4 is "the most quality competition and level of musicianship" they have ever had. McCarthy, meanwhile, also shared that people need to look out for the two people in snow owl costumes.
"I'm like, 'Oh my god, are they husband and wife? Are they brother and sister?'" she asked. "How's this combo related in some way that they can sing together and they count as one!? So to me, that is what you want to watch."
McCarthy, meanwhile, recently celebrated her six-year wedding anniversary with husband Donnie Wahlberg. When asked how quarantine has been for them, she said they're "better than ever."
"I have to say we're even better than ever because I think, instead of busying ourselves or going in separate corners, we really worked on things," McCarthy explained. "If something bumped, we sat down and worked it out. And he even said last night, he said, 'I feel like we're closer than ever.' I said, 'Absolutely,' because we're doing the work."
"It's not just, 'I love you, hee hee,'" she continued. "We get down and dirty where it counts."
McCarthy has also enjoyed spending time with her son, Evan, and feels like she's also reconnected with him. The actress said that to spend time with her son they started playing Minecraft together.
"Literally 10 hours a day when I was off -- and it was the greatest thing," she shared. "For any parents that are looking [for ways] to reconnect with their kid -- or teenager that doesn't want to talk to them anymore, doesn't think they're cool -- I gotta tell you, it was one of the best things I've ever done, was join his little video game world. And Minecraft is fun, you know, it's not that hard."
The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Fox.
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