Honey Boo Boo and Mama June reunited with a musically questionable but heartwarming duet on The Masked Singer Wednesday night. The pair haven't appeared together outside their show for a while now, likely due to June's crack cocaine addiction and resulting stints in rehab. But by early this year, June told the media she was clean and has been talking to media outlets about what it was like in the depths of her addiction and how it kept her from her children.
Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson, who is now 16 years old, and her mother "Mama June" Shannon have been reality tv stars for about a decade now. It all started with Alana's appearance as a child beauty pageant queen on Toddlers and Tiaras, and their fame continued with TLC's hit show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, which centered around their family. June has since starred in another reality TV show on WE TV focused on her transformation after a weight loss surgery called Mama June: Not To Hot, which premiered in 2017. Over the course of the show, June's devastating addiction and its impact on her family was revealed, and many worried it might interfere with the show.
But on the newest episode of season 6 of The Masked Singer, June and Alana appeared happily together as Beach Ball, the last wildcard contestant of the season, and sang the hit song "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus. As the pair sang the song off pitch, it was revealed that the Beach Ball had two faces and was thus made up of two people. Due to the poor performance, the pair was quickly eliminated from the contest, and the judges guessed they might be Snooki and JWoww or Kris and Khloe Kardashian. But the judges were delighted when the pair was revealed. Judge Ken Jeong heartily congratulated them, saying, "You are all what 'Masked Singer' is all about. Just having fun. You guys are awesome." Videos of the performance via the YouTube channels Masked Clips and The Masked Singer can be seen below:
In the short interview after the reveal, Alana talked about how hot it was inside the ball and how hard it was to keep it from rolling off stage. She also said she was the front face of the Beach Ball. "You know I gotta be the star of the show," she said in her classic sassy way. But judge Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg went on to ask June about one of the clues they had given for the character in which they said they had had some time apart. "I was in my addiction. I was away from my kids for two years. Now I'm fixing to celebrate two years clean," June said. "So, this is the first project outside of our show that we've done together, so it feels kind of nice, you know? I cried — that's why I missed the first line of my part."
Though Beach Ball's life on The Masked Singer was short-lived, it will long be remembered for its episode's uniquely joyous sendoff of the eliminated contestants. June and Alana's reuniting might be hinting at upcoming partnerships between the mother and daughter, or it might just be a fun one-time public appearance to show that the two are less estranged. It's hard to say. Regardless, fans are rooting for June to stay sober and for the family to mend post-addiction, and this seems to be a positive sign.
Source: Masked Clips, The Masked Singer