Rumors have been circulating that the host of The Masked Singer Nick Cannon could potentially take over Wendy Williams' timeslot if she does not return to her show. In early September, Wendy, who was previously Lips on The Masked Singer, canceled several of her promotional events for the upcoming new season of her talk show, The Wendy Williams Show. While the cancellation of events was not meant to derail the premiere of her first season, she ended up not going through with the episode.
It has been rumored that Wendy has some ongoing health issues, which caused her to cancel the premiere of her iconic daytime talk show. Wendy has been open and honest about her health issues in the past, but this time it seems worse. Even though Wendy has been public about her battle with Graves disease and a breakthrough case of COVID-19, these health concerns are not the reason why her show has been delayed for so long.
An insider close to Page Six has confessed there is a possibility Nick could be taking over for Wendy following her slew of health concerns. "The executives have been talking," the source admitted. "They are keeping a close eye on [Williams’] recovery and hoping for the best. But they have pushed back [her] show premiere several times so they are already thinking of a backup plan." The source added both Wendy's talk show and Nick's upcoming new talk show are produced by the same production company, Debmar-Mercury. Nick's show is already slated to be a huge success. Plus, he has a huge fanbase and platform. If Wendy doesn't end up returning any time soon, Nick is their ideal backup plan. Wendy's season 13 premiere has been pushed once again due to her health concerns.
The original date for Wendy's show premiere was September 20. However, it was pushed to October 4. The date was then changed again late last week to October 18 after her health continued to go downhill. Other sources said that even plugging Nick's show "could be complex." Both shows are syndicated, meaning it's up to the station to replace Wendy’s show with Nick's new talk show. Nonetheless, producers are glad they have a backup plan if Wendy isn't up for returning on October 18.
If she does return, there is a possibility Nick will appear as a future guest. The talk show host not only contracted COVID-19 last month, but she was also transported to Beth Israel Hospital for a mental health check. It was rumored that Wendy would address her health issues during her premiere episode, as she is scheduled to have no guests that day. Even though Wendy's team has Nick as their backup plan, they are hoping Wendy will recover by October 18. While Nick's show will garner a lot of viewers, no one does daytime TV like Wendy.
The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.
Source: Page Six