'The Masked Singer' judges thought the Gnome was Robert De Niro — turns out, it was someone even bigger
'The Masked Singer' has one of the most interesting gimmicks amongst reality TV shows. In 2025, various reality TV shows have been competing to make a name for themselves by inculcating raw skills such as singing or dancing, but producers have realized this generation's short-lived attention span won't allow such simple ideas to live on. This is exactly what gave birth to 'The Masked Singer' or even 'The Voice', for that matter.
'The Masked Singer' has an interesting concept where judges don't really have to judge the contestants based on their skill, but figure out the identity of the contestant, as these individuals sing with a mask on. The identity of these individuals can range from Demi Lovato to the living legend, Dick Van Dyke. That said, the 97-year-old actor stunned everyone when it was revealed that he was the voice behind Gnome, one of the singing characters in season nine of the show, as reported by Upworthy.
Known for iconic roles in shows and movies like 'Mary Poppins', 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', and 'The Dick Van Dyke Show', Van Dyke carved a name for himself in the multimedia zeitgeist of the early 70s to 80s. As the Gnome performed on the opening night of season nine, no one could've guessed who was behind those pointy ears. When Gnome finally finished performing his rendition of 'When You're Smiling' by Billie Holiday, the judges started guessing as Jenny McCarthy began, "I think that this is the biggest celebrity legend we have ever had on 'The Masked Singer.'" Technically, she wasn't wrong, but her guess was.
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Ken Jeong took a wild guess, calling the Gnome Robert De Niro. Jenny guessed the singer to be Tony Bennett, while Robin Thicke guessed the pointy-eared character to be Dustin Hoffman. Nicole Scherzinger agreed with Robin, thinking it's Hoffman behind the mask. Each panelist had wildly different takes, and none of them were ready to see how wrong each one of them was. As the mask came off and everyone watched in a nail-biting moment, Dick Van Dyke, the Tony, Emmy and Grammy award winning actor emerged with his ever-prevalent smile as reported by Entertainment Weekly.
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No one had seen this coming; it was truly an iconic moment and probably one of the most iconic guest stars to have been on 'The Masked Singer'. As Nick Cannon spoke, "We are in the presence of an icon, ladies and gentlemen," the audience cheered as the judges were overwhelmed with emotions. Ken Jeong and the other judges got so excited that they stood on the table. Cannon then asked Dyke how his experience being the Gnome was, to which Dyke hilariously added, "It was real dark in there; I couldn't see anything. I just loved that they thought I was Robert De Niro."
