Season 12 of “The Masked Singer” continued Wednesday night on FOX, with the Group C finale on “Peanuts Night.” Following the studio audience’s vote, Royal Knight became the first singer to be eliminated (and ninth overall this season), revealing actress, singer and author Jan Kramer. Watch our video interview above.

“The clues were a bit sad, but it was the unfortunate truth,” Jana tells Gold Derby. “Which I think made the costume what it was. It felt great to buckle down and go out and sing and prove that you can get through tough times and still go out and fight and have fun and love.

After assessing the competition, Jana says: ‘I was pretty sure I wouldn’t make it to the quarter-finals. I know I’m not the best singer. I was surprised how well I did. When I heard the other participants singing, I thought: ‘I’m definitely not going to make it all the way.’ I’m very competitive, so I thought, ‘Maybe I should rearrange my songs.’ But then I thought, ‘Go out and have fun. That’s exactly what I did.”

TO SEE ‘The Masked Singer’s’ Eliminated Contestant After He Was Compared to Joe Jonas: ‘It Made Me Feel Good’ (Watch)

Panelists Robin Dikke, Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Ken JeongAnd Rita Ora had trouble identifying the singer during most of her appearance on the show, but Jenny eventually figured it out. “I knew she would as soon as she saw the podcast prompt,” Jana admits. “She was just on my podcast. We were just talking about all these things (in my clue packs). Living in Nashville, hard times and stuff like that. I knew she was going to get me.”

Discussing her rise and connection with music, Jana says: ‘The only reason I got my record deal was because I was on ‘One Tree Hill’. When I was at that show I was like, ‘Let me try to pursue a little bit of music. It was interesting because I hadn’t seen people doing both. For a woman at that time, they said, ‘You can’t do both. You’re an actress and country radio won’t believe you if you keep acting, so you really need to stop acting.” My label made me leave the last season of ‘One Tree Hill’ to do my radio tour. I stopped acting for a while, but then I realized that I love acting. Acting is my number one. Yes, I’ve enjoyed the last five years of touring, but I wanted to do both. Then I turned things around and took control into my own hands. I’m going to try it my way. I enjoyed that road. Doing ‘The Masked Singer’ made me realize how much I miss being on stage, but there’s nothing better than being on set.”

Artists love Patsy Cline, James TaylorAnd The Eagles were Jana’s biggest musical influences. “That was probably my top three,” she says. “Now it has changed a bit. To be honest, I still listen to it, but now it’s really what my kids listen to, and that’s a whole different story. She reveals that her favorite performance on “The Masked Singer” was her cover of “When I Look At You” from Miley Cyrus. “I was allowed to dedicate that song to my husband, so it was a sweet song. To be honest, I didn’t even know that song. I love Miley Cyrus, but that was a song I didn’t know. I was nervous if I could hit even a few notes. We have lowered the key significantly. I always knew Miley was a good singer, but when I tried to sing one of her songs I thought, ‘Damn, this girl has range!’ I have so much more appreciation for her and her musical talent.”

Jana tells Gold Derby that she will be filming “a few movies” next year, but they haven’t been announced yet. She also has a song she wrote with Lee Brice, Sara Brice And Jerrod Niemann called “Heart Shift” that fans can expect soon.

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