Mask on, mask off. That’s how it goes over at Fox’s hit series “The Masked Singer.” Season 9 kicked off last night with two big reveals … and let’s just say, the more you gnome, the better.

Jenny McCarthy: “Ahh, I’m freaking out! Is it? Is it? Is it?”

Nick Cannon: “The legendary Tony, Grammy Award and Emmy Award winner, the one and only, Dick Van Dyke!”

Jenny McCarthy: “Ahhh!”

Season 9 of “The Masked Singer” started off with a Van … as in Dick Van Dyke.

At 97 years old, he’s the oldest contestant to be eliminated.

Nick Cannon: “Such an honor. We are in the presence of an icon, ladies and gentlemen. What was it like being the Gnome?”

Dick Van Dyke: “It was real dark in there.”

Nick Cannon: “Nicole, you are in tears.”

Nicole Scherzinger: “I love you so much. We love you, the whole world loves you so much.”

Oh, gnome. Someone get Nicole Scherzinger a box of tissues.

Nicole wasn’t the only one crying. Mustang contestant Sara Evans was also unmasked, and was amazed at her fellow contestants’ reveal.

Sara Evans: “The other reveal of the night made me bawl crying, like, I bawled my eyes out. You have no idea what that person means to me.”

Um, I think we do.

Weeping aside, the country singer says she loved being on the show, and found it hysterical when the judges critiqued her.

Sara Evans (as Mustang, singing): “Here I go again on my own.”

Sara Evans: “The funniest part of it was standing there. It was almost like I was a contestant on ‘American Idol’ or something, because they were like, ‘You have a really good voice. Oh, my gosh, you have a great voice,’ and I had to just stand there and be quiet, and it was just funny hearing people say, you know, ‘You have a great voice,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, ’cause that’s what I do.'”

Now that Sara’s got some time on her hands, she’s hitting the road to tour and working on a brand-new album.

Sara Evans: “I’ve already written all the songs, so that creative process, and then I love, you know, handing new music to my fans.”

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