'American Idol' finalist Jax went undercover as a zombie clown at Six Flags Great Adventure's Fright Fest on Friday night. Watch video
JACKSON - "American Idol" finalist Jax is used to people running up to her to take a picture, not running away from her screaming.
But that is exactly the welcome she received at Six Flags Great Adventure on Friday night when she went undercover as a zombie clown during the theme park's popular Fright Fest event.
And she loved it.
"I finally feel like myself," the 19-year-old singer joked. "I finally feel like I'm the artist I'm supposed to be."
The East Brunswick resident - who finished third on Season 14 of "American Idol" - was battling a case of pneumonia, but refused to miss out on her opportunity to take part in Fright Fest.
"Halloween is my favorite time of the year, so this is awesome for me," she said. "I love scary movies, I'm a huge 'Walking Dead' fan and I'm just really, really pumped to scare the crap out of people."
At one point she stopped Six Flags make-up artist, Tony Mandile, while he was transforming her into the zombie, to ask the room full of zombies and make-up artists to answer a very important question.
"Does anyone watch the 'Walking Dead'? Is Glenn dead?" she asked.
Six Flags spokeswoman Kristin Siebeneicher said the singer's manager reached out to the theme park to see if it would be interested in having Jax be a zombie for a night as part of Halloween weekend.
'American Idol' finalist Jax went undercover as a zombie clown at Six Flags Great Adventure's Fright Fest on Oct. 30, 2015. (Rob Spahr | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) "We were psyched, we thought is was a fantastic idea," said Siebeneicher, adding Six Flags was asked not to promote her appearance in advance. "They wanted her to have the best opportunity to get out there authentically scare people and that's what's Fright Fest is all about, so we were happy to honor that request."
Siebeneicher said this year's Fright Fest is the largest in the theme park's history.
"We have 200 zombies that we make up each and every Friday night, Saturday and Sunday," she said. They go to different areas of the park, in addition to haunted houses and terror trails. Each one has a very specific character, they're playing a specific role."
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Jax - who also took part in the zombie parade - was assigned to the park's Circus Pyscho area, which is its scary clown section.
Before being unleashed onto the park's visitors, she was encouraged not to scare any children under 12.
"Where's the fun in that?" she asked. "I have no empathy when it comes to scaring people."
However, when she convinced two young girls who were scared of the zombie clown she was playing to give her a hug, Jax was singing a different tune.
"I'm the coolest clown ever!" she declared.
Rob Spahr may be reached at rspahr@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRobSpahr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.