The Masked Singer judge Jackie O: ‘I wouldn’t risk my health for a TV show’
Star radio host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson opens up about her fear of COVID-19 and how she was convinced to head to Melbourne — the country’s epicentre of the virus — to shoot the second season of The Masked Singer.
TV
Don't miss out on the headlines from TV. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Jackie ‘O’ Henderson is terrified of the coronavirus.
The broadcaster would never have left the relative safety of Sydney and headed to Melbourne — the epicentre of the virus in Australia — to join the cast and crew of The Masked Singer had she not been convinced beyond doubt that Channel 10 had plans in place to keep her and her colleagues safe.
COVID-19 has thrown Australian television production into chaos and with Victoria in the midst of a dangerous second wave, executives had to implement wholesale changes to ensure the ratings winner survived.
Henderson, 45, says had Channel 10 not set up a production bubble in Docklands and been “over the top” with safety, she would have stayed in Sydney.
“Yeah for sure (I would have stayed in Sydney), there’s no way I would want to risk my health for a TV show,” she says. “I’ve had many conversations with Channel 10 about this because I take that seriously and you hear on the news about Victoria’s rising cases.”
But all the care in the world didn’t prevent Henderson from slipping up this week, attracting a storm of criticism in the process.
MORE ENTERTAINMENT FROM DAVID MEDDOWS:
The Aussie Revenge star coming to Summer Bay
One of Australia’s top media execs releases a novel
Photographed not wearing a mask while getting out of a car at The Masked Singer set, she was quick to apologise and told The Sunday Telegraph she was a big supporter of the protective measures.
“I’m in full support of everyone wearing masks and get so annoyed when others don’t,” she says.
“There’s no excuse for not wearing one, and even if you’re walking ten metres from your car into a building like I was, masks need to be on. I certainly won’t forget again.”
She explained she was given a mask shortly after exiting the car and immediately put it on.
Living in a Melbourne apartment for the duration of filming, Henderson says she fears the virus and believes it isn’t being taken seriously.
“I think people take it way too lightly, it’s something we don’t know what the prolonged effects are and it’s really new to us,” she says.
“I know people say the symptoms are mild but I certainly don’t want to get it because I’ve heard there are complications that might stay with you for a very long time.”
She’s using the break to take a bit of a breather after a hectic few months of juggling hosting the radio show from home while also home schooling daughter Kitty. She loved that the pair got to spend more time together but as the restrictions remained in place, both mum and daughter were ready for a return to normal.
“Home schooling was good, I really enjoyed that because it gave me a chance to spend all my days with my daughter but towards the end of it we were a bit over it and she wanted to get back to school,” Henderson laughs.
“She was getting frustrated, I was getting frustrated because it just seemed to go on and on.”
She says Kitty’s workload was quite intense and she was darting between home studio and ‘classroom’ to make sure it was all running smoothly.
“Our home schooling was from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon and then they gave us homework on top of that,” she says.
“I was trying to do that while I was on air so I’d have to quickly run out in an ad break, get the Zoom class up, make sure it was working, then run back. It was just too much and it was a really full on schedule for us.
“Now I’m like wooo I’m on my own, I’ve got all this time up my sleeve, I’m loving it.”
Henderson was close to passing on a return to TV when first approached by Channel 10.
With a few television gigs already under her belt, she had very little interest at the time in doing it again.
Happy to focus her attention on the FM-leading breakfast show she co-hosts with shock-jock Kyle Sandilands, Henderson wasn’t overly excited when contacted by Channel 10 last year.
It is the airwaves where she has dominated for more than two decades, and hosting roles such as Big Brother (alongside Sandilands), Pop Stars and Australian Princess hadn’t left her wanting to jump ship and make a permanent move to TV.
But when she met with Channel 10 executives and was shown an episode of a wacky show from the US called The Masked Singer and told they were bringing it to Australia, Henderson all but signed on the dotted line there and then.
“I haven’t loved doing TV because there’s no spontaneity in it and a lot of it is just standing around and waiting and I’m used to radio where everything is live and I love to do live broadcasts,” she says.
“But (executive producer) Stephen Tait pretty much said to me ‘I know you don’t want to do any TV but … I know you’ll want to do this show and we really want you to do it’ and when he showed me the US format I was there and then on the spot saying I’m up for it.”
The Masked Singer sees an array of elaborately costumed celebrities perform songs in front of a panel of ‘guessers’ who are given clues as to the identity of the person in disguise.
The audience and panel then vote for their favourite performances and the least popular must reveal their identity at the end of each episode. Last year’s celebrities included Deni Hines, former Australian cricketer Brett Lee and eventual winner Cody Simpson.
Henderson was joined on the panel by Dannii Minogue, Dave Hughes and Lindsay Lohan and when it became clear they had a ratings winner on their hands, the network announced there would be a second season and all four would be returning along with host-of-everything Osher Gunsberg.
Of course the global pandemic brought an end to Lohan’s involvement and she was recently replaced by South African-born Kiwi comedian Urzila Carlson.
* THE MASKED SINGER, CHANNEL 10, STARTS 7.30PM MONDAY, CONTINUES 7.30PM TUESDAY