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'The Masked Dancer': Elizabeth Smart is Miss Moth, but fans upset to see child safety activist: 'America is weird'

'The true sign it's the end of times is not a global pandemic or a government insurrection but Elizabeth Smart appearing on The Masked Dancer'

'The Masked Dancer' revealed Group B's performer Miss Moth's identity on Wednesday (January 13) night's episode after her elimination. It was Elizabeth Smart under the mask, the one who was abducted in 2002 from her home at knifepoint by self-styled godman Brian David Mitchell who later on forced her to partake in a marriage ritual with him and later on went on to rape her for the nine months that she was in captivity. Elizabeth was held captive by Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee for all that time after which she was discovered almost 18 miles away from her home in Utah. 

Elizabeth has since left her victim days behind her and went ahead to advocate for child safety. She took all of the horrors she faced as a fourteen-year-old taken from the safe confines of her home in the dead of the night and turned it into a mission to help protect others and ensure they don't meet the same fate as her. She has since advocated for stricter legislation on sexual predators and training for educators on child sexual abuse. She also worked with the US Department of Justice and other kidnapping survivors to create the guide 'You’re Not Alone: The Journey From Abduction to Empowerment' and established the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, which promotes educational resources and trauma support for victims and families and provides “a community of active, engaged, and empowered survivors alongside those who support them", according to a report.

She also shunned victim shaming. “We need to do everything we can as a community to pull together and support these victims, to help them reclaim their lives and applaud them for surviving,” she said during the interview. “Oftentimes when you hear about a crime in the news, the focus is on the details of how that person became a victim. And the truth is, that’s not fair. It shouldn’t matter if they were drunk or if they were just walking home from school. That needs to change in a big way.”

After her elimination on 'TMD', Elizabeth revealed that she took up 'The Masked Dancer' because she's lived a very serious life. The judges applauded her move to appear on the show and said they were honored to have her on the show. However, the audiences watching at home didn't share the same sentiments. "The true sign it's the end of times is not a global pandemic or a government insurrection but Elizabeth Smart appearing on The Masked Dancer," wrote a fan. "The masked dancer being ELIZABETH SMART is the most BATS**T thing to happen EVER," another wrote.

"I do not want to be insensitive and like.....I guess good for her. but imagine telling Elizabeth smart that all of that suffering would day allow her to be in a celebrity dance competition on network television," read another tweet. "America is a VERY weird f****ng country. Like...just think of the arc of Elizabeth Smart's life this century," wrote another fan. "Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped when she was 14 and brainwashed for 9 months before eventually being rescued and now she’s on the #MaskedDancer. Kids, YOU don’t have it rough," read another tweet. 

'The Masked Dancer' airs Wednesdays at 8 pm ET on FOX.