After a long season of madcap musical madness, 'The Masked Singer' named a new Golden Mask winner and revealed the final three!
*Caution: Spoilers ahead!
The Masked Singer has crowned a new champion! The wild and wonderfully wacky reality competition show gave fans a festive season 4 finale Wednesday night, and admitted another celeb to the exclusive club of Golden Mask winners.
It all came down to the final three -- The Crocodile, The Mushroom and The Sun -- who each got one final chance to wow the audience and try to win over voters. Meanwhile, the panel of "celebrity detectives" -- including Robin Thicke, Nicole Scherzinger, Ken Jeong, and Jenny McCarthy -- each had one last shot at trying to deduce the finalists' secret identities.
The Crocodile -- whose glittery purple ensemble and rock star persona have made him a fan favorite -- kicked things off with a performance of Journey's "Open Arms" that set the bar high for the finals.
The Mushroom came second, performing a special song he later revealed was one of his favorite tunes to sing around the house with his daughter -- Stevie Wonder's "I Wish."
Finally, The Sun hit the stage last, and had the unenviable task of topping her mind-blowing semifinals performance of Billie Eilish's "When the Party's Over." However, she managed to pull it off with a moving rendition of "The Story" by Brandi Carlile.
After the performances were delivered, the moment of truth arrived and the votes were cast. Host Nick Cannon began by announcing the third-place finisher -- The Crocodile.
Before The Crocodile unmasked, the panel got a chance to make their final guesses -- and it was only McCarthy who managed to not only nail it, but it also turned out that her first impression guess from the start of the season was spot-on.
The Crocodile finally took off the mask and revealed himself to be none other than Backstreet Boy Nick Carter!
"I had to pull every trick out of the bag. There are some talented artists on this show, and I'm just grateful to be here," Carter shared, before giving an unmasked encore performance of "Open Arms."
Finally, the big decision was at hand, and based on viewer votes, the Golden Mask trophy was awarded to The Sun! The songstress excitedly accepted the award and sat on her celebratory throne as the runner-up, The Mushroom, revealed his identity.
This time, it was Scherzinger and Thicke who managed to guess correctly, as they both suggested The Mushroom was singer Aloe Blacc!
"Music is truly the language that connects us all," Blacc shared, after revealing his identity. The "Wake Me Up" vocalist showed the true power of his rich voice with an unmasked encore of "I Wish" that was absolutely fantastic.
Finally, it was all down to the Golden Mask winner, The Sun, who'd managed to bring all of the panelists to tears multiple times throughout the season. After the final guesses were made -- and Scherzinger and McCarthy nabbed more correct guesses -- The Sun revealed herself to be none other than country crooner LeAnn Rimes.
"This has been an overwhelming experience," the two-time GRAMMY winner shared with a beaming smile.
"I didn't expect this to be this much work!" she admitted. I was thinking, 'Oh, I'll come on, this'll be easy! This'll be fun.' And it was a blast!"
Congrats to the new Golden Mask winner!
Ahead of Wednesday's finale, ET spoke with Blacc about his time on The Masked Singer, and how much his two young children inspired him throughout his journey on the show.
"I'm excited to watch the show tonight," Blacc told ET. "It's been a secret to my kids the whole time, so I'm excited for them to finally see the unmasking."
The singer said his kids have been watching the season and noted that The Mushroom sounded like him, but he managed to convince them that he couldn't be on the show if he was at home with them at the same time.
As for the finale, Blacc shared that the Wonder song "I Wish" was directly inspired by his little girl.
"[At our house], we have Bob Marley mornings and Stevie Wonder weekends, and we just dance around," he shared. "My daughter knows this song, and she's gonna be super excited to hear it, and super surprised when she sees it's me behind the mask."
While The Sun took home the Golden Mask, The Mushroom had the distinction of being one of the most mysterious contestants of the season, with very few fans coming to a consensus about his real identity. One way in which he managed to maintain his anonymity was by performing songs that each showed wildly different aspects of his vocal talents.
"I tried to use songs that completely were outside what people recognize as my voice," he shared. "I was definitely playing the game. I was trying to throw people off, for sure."
For more on this exciting season of The Masked Singer, check out the video below!
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