Fans are used to seeing John Elway on football’s biggest stage, but seeing the retired Denver Broncos quarterback on The Masked Singer probably wasn’t on the bingo cards of any sports fans watching the premiere.
TooFab spoke with Elway ahead of his elimination on Wednesday’s premiere, where he shared what inspired him to step outside his comfort zone and do the show, and revealed whether or not he’d do anything like this again.
“I think the biggest thing was because I’m not a very good singer, and I knew that, but I think, in looking at that, my first reaction was, ‘No, I’m going to pass on it.’ And I said, ‘But give me a night to sleep on it.’ And then I finally said, ‘You know what? It’s kind of something that’ll be exciting in life.'” You know, I’ve got 10 grandkids. And so I thought that they would all enjoy watching it and get a kick out of it,” Elway explained. “So that’s kind of what got me over the hump.”
The NFL Hall of Famer continued, “Plus, it got me out of my comfort zone to where it’s not something I’d ever done, or had confidence in doing. And so I kind of enjoyed being out of that comfort zone. And so that’s why I said, all right, let’s go ahead and do this, and it ended up being a great experience too. I’m really glad I did it. The people were great and it was really a lot of fun.”
Elway competed as Leaf Sheep. You may be wondering exactly what that is. And while it sounds like something made up by the insanely talented costume designers over at TMS, it’s actually real.
The Leaf sheep or “Leaf slug” is a species of sacoglossan sea slug. Shell-less, they are the only organism in the entire world that is not a plant yet is able to photosynthesize. This sheep is also able to produce enough energy through kleptoplasty that helps them stay alive for at least 2 months comfortably.
In addition to the costume being adorable with its big eyes and cactus-like leaves sprouting up from it’s back, the ornate Leaf Sheep outfit looked difficult to navigate, but to Elway’s surprise it was actually pretty comfortable.
“The good thing about it, it was pretty comfortable. I had to drive it, and I think that it complicated things,” Elway said. “So, the fact that I had to drive the thing, get it in the right spot onstage and as well as sing at the same time, so I think it took my mind off of everything, kind of what exactly I was doing, plus, I couldn’t see out of it very well, so I couldn’t see the audience, which made it a little bit easier for me, too, because then I didn’t get stage fright having to see who’s in the audience.”
“And I could concentrate on driving it and get my words right and getting it in the right spot,” he added. “So, it was actually pretty comfortable once I got in and got used to it. We had a couple of rehearsals, got used to driving it around, it was good. And I think, like I said, the thing I liked about it most, is I couldn’t really see out of it. And so therefore, it made me feel like I was singing in the shower.”
As for who he told about his performance, Elway said he kept the details tightly under wraps outside of his ambassador and former The Masked Singer competitor, Demarcus Ware, being in the loop, and those that came with him to the show — adding he’s looking forward to his family, friends and former teammates seeing him show off his singing chops Wednesday night.
“We wanted to make sure that it was kept a secret like it was supposed to be, and so not a lot of people [knew]. I figured what we’d do is have a little watch party when the show aired, like it’s going to tonight, so got some people coming over to watch it,” Elway teased. “So, I’m sure I’ll get plenty of comments after tonight on the fact of who saw it, and so that’ll kind of be fun too, and we can get some laughs out of it.”
The 64-year-old former athlete will be watching it for the first time right along with them, telling TooFab he has yet to see his performance.
“I haven’t seen me yet either, so I’m kind of curious to see exactly how I sounded too. I hope I didn’t sound too bad,” he quipped. “I’m looking forward to seeing exactly how I sounded.”
“I’ll get some commentary on this. I’m sure I’ll get plenty of jabs on this,” Elway added when asked if he expects his former teammates and fellow NFL stars to reach out after seeing him perform. “But I think that maybe it’ll open the door up to where if they get an opportunity to do it, that they can come to me. And I say, ‘If you get a chance to do it, you should do it. ‘Cause it was a great experience.'”
While it was Elway’s first time on TMS stage, he’s had a little practice singing in front of an audience — his former teammates.
“I think the last time I really sang in front of an audience was — just by myself — was my rookie year, when we had to get up and sing in front of the whole team. And so that was probably the last time I’d done that, which was a long time ago,” Elway said, referring to his first year in the NFL back in 1983 when he played for the then-Baltimore Colts. “But sure, you always sing a little bit. It’s more in the shower than anywhere, but every once in a while in the locker room, they’d get a song that I knew and we’d all kind of sing a little bit together.”
“I’m used to having people singing with me, therefore they can drown me out,” he joked.
While judge Ken Jeong was the only one on the panel to correctly guess Elway to be the Leaf Sheep ahead of his unmasking, he said it felt nice to be mentioned among the likes of Troy Aikman and Tom Brady, who similarly fall into that GOAT category when it comes to listing off legendary NFL quarterbacks.
As for whether he’d do something like this again, Elway told TooFab, he’d definitely think about it.
“It depends on what it would be. I was a big fan of the Masked Singer before I did it. And plus, I think being in a costume to where they couldn’t actually see you — I’ve been asked to do Dancing with Stars, I didn’t want to do that, and would I do this? You know, I would definitely think about it,” Elway revealed. “This was, like I said, I was out of my comfort zone, but once I did it, I was really glad I did it, and kind of felt like, you did something that you weren’t comfortable doing, and so it feels like an accomplishment.”
“So even though I got kicked off, that’s OK, because it still felt like the fact that I did it, I think I patted myself on the back for just doing it, putting myself out there,” he added.
