Elizabeth Smart as a moth in The Masked Dancer: WATCH

It’s hard to imagine a show like The masked dancer – a fallout from everyone’s favorite dystopian nightmare The masked singer – being stranger than its premise. Celebrities in elaborate costumes dancing for other celebrities who have to judge their performance and guess who they are based on their movements? Sure. Why not. Nothing matters anymore and honestly most of the time I’m just relieved that the room I’m in isn’t on fire right now. But one way or another, even in this economy, Dancer gave us a real shock. Thursday night’s episode revealed that under the moth mask was none other than Elizabeth Smart.

Although she is currently an activist and bestselling author, your most visceral memory of her might be the girl who was kidnapped at age 14, held against her will and sexually assaulted for nine months. before being saved. Now you might be wondering: why a moth? Are they particularly resistant insects? Was the butterfly caught and it was the next best thing? Nope. No, it’s much darker than that, my friends. Before her identity was revealed, Smart explained her choice of costume in a now completely gruesome intro video that left many guessing that the celebrity below was actually Monica Lewinsky. “You know, moths don’t look for the spotlight,” her disguised voiceover said. “It prompts us to know whether we want it or not.” So you see the butterfly is a prisoner. And while Smart survived her highly traumatic ordeal, becoming an inspiration to trauma survivors around the world, her celebrity status is just another form of captivity she’s learned to survive the best. that she can. Sit with that for a minute, then tell me these shows aren’t exactly the prime time entertainment we deserve.