The Masked Singer: And the winner is...
The Masked Singer has crowned (and unmasked) its victor.
The Fox reality series, which has already been renewed for a second season, brought its off-the-wall first season to an end Wednesday night. After last week’s double elimination of the rabbit and the lion, revealed to be Joey Fatone and Rumer Willis respectively, the finale pitted the peacock, bee, and monster against each other for the crown.
The two-hour finale saw a host of excitement, including the return of all 12 contestants kitted out in their masks to sing Aloe Blacc’s “Make Way.” For their final performances, the peacock fittingly offered up Ray Charles’ “Shake a Tail Feather,” while the bee sang Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and the monster sang Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It,” while celebrity panelists Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke, and celebrity guest Kenan Thompson looked on.
Ultimately, the monster — revealed to be T-Pain — was crowned the first-ever winner of The Masked Singer, shedding some tears of joy after the panelists praised his voice and performances.
Over the course of the show’s 10 episodes, the monster went for a soulful, rock and R&B vibe, taking on Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me,” Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Want to Be,” and Lenny Kravitz’s “American Woman.”
The bee was eliminated first. Under the mask was Grammy-winner Gladys Knight, who performed Sia’s “Chandelier,” Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” and Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven,” among others.
The peacock was Donny Osmond. He focused more on showmanship than pop music, performing The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face,” John Legend’s “All of Me,” and channeled Hugh Jackman to perform “The Greatest Show” from The Greatest Showman.
The Masked Singer will return for a second season on Fox. The date is still to be announced.