Reality Check: Savannah Chrisley competes on 'Masked Singer'

Reality TV star Savannah Chrisley says her parents tried to dissuade her from appearing on Fox’s musical game show “The Masked Singer,” but that she performed on it regardless in order to share a family experience with her incarcerated folks.

Chrisley, 26, told E! News in a story posted Friday that her father, former “Chrisley Knows Best” star Todd Chrisley, “was, like, 'You do not even know what a note is.’ ” Mom Julie Chrisley “was, like, ‘Oh my God, you cannot sing, Savannah!’ I was, like, ‘I know! Trust me!’ ”

Savannah Chrisley nonetheless appeared on the March 13 episode, masked as Afghan Hound, because, “There was something that just came over me that was, like, ‘You know what? Just do it. … Because your parents can watch it and they can still be a part of your journey.’ And that was the leading force behind me saying yes.”

Chrisley, who starred with her parents in USA Network’s since-canceled “Chrisley Knows Best” and in a spinoff, was eliminated after warbling an off-key version of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” originated by South African singer-composer Solomon Linda in 1939 and popularized by The Tokens with new lyrics in 1961.

“My mom has seen it. My dad has not,” she said of the episode. “After she watched it she called me and she was just dying laughing. And that’s why I did it, because if I can bring them a little bit of light and laughter in such a difficult time, then it makes it all worth it.”

Chrisley added that her boyfriend, Robert Shiver, “has been a great support system and has loved watching it and he said I did great. But, you know, I think he just said that because he’s just an insanely kind human being. But I’ll take it!”

Her parents’ incarceration in two separate Florida penitentiaries is “tough” for her, she said. “You would think it gets easier, and in some aspects it does, but it also gets tough realizing that they’ve been in federal prison for a year and a half, almost. And that’s a tough pill to swallow.”

Todd and Julie Chrisley were convicted in June 2022 of multiple counts of tax evasion and fraud. After being sentenced that November, they reported to prison in January 2023.

Premieres

“Vanderpump Rules” alumni Brittany Cartwright, Kristen Doute and Jax Taylor trade West Hollywood for family life in “The Valley,” i.e. suburban San Fernando Valley, along with Luke Broderick, Danny and Nia Booko, Jesse and Michelle Lally, and Jason and Janet Caperna, Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. It moves to its regular 9 p.m. slot next week … Wednesday night from 9 to 10:15, Bravo’s “Top Chef” heads to Wisconsin for season 21, with 75-minute episodes weekly. There are no Long Islanders competing, but there is one New Yorker, Danny Garcia … Thursday at 8 and 8:30 p.m. on HGTV, the new “House Hunters: All Stars” features folks from several of the network’s shows, trying in individual episodes to help prospective buyers find a home. Those stars include Chelsea and Cole DeBoer, whose home-renovation series “Down Home Fab” begins season 2 immediately afterward, from 9 to 10:01 p.m. … Early Friday on the streaming service Netflix, the high-end real estate show “Buying Beverly Hills” also begins its sophomore season … and Sunday night from 9 to 10:15, Bravo’s “Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard” likewise starts season 2, with nine returning young Black professionals and entrepreneurs joined by new castmate Noelle Hughley, of Brooklyn.

Recaps

Siblings Maya and Rohan Mody were the first team eliminated on CBS’ “The Amazing Race” season 36 … Randen Montalvo, originally from Brooklyn, was medically evacuated from “Survivor” … and “The Bachelor” ended in a cliffhanger.