Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke were the judges on season 5 of the show.
The 13-episode Season 5 of The Masked Singer finally came to an end, and what a ride it has been. The finale of the show began with season 4 winner LeAnn Rimes performing her hit How Do I Live, with the three finalists of S5: Black Swan, Chameleon, and Piglet. Rimes, 38, also joined as a guest judge along with panelists Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke.
Then came Chameleon for his solo performance of Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio featuring L.V. He also gave hints about himself and said that he did the show for his son and in memory of his sister, according to People. "I originally signed up for this for my kid because it's one of our favorite shows to watch together," the psychedelic lizard said. "But it's turned out to be one of the coolest experiences of my life."
After him came Black Swan, who shared that she was proud of herself for making it to the finale. She revealed that she suffered from stage fright, which might surprise fans "because I was known around the world before I got my driver's license." She sang Michael Bolton's How Am I Supposed to Live Without You.
Finally, it was Piglet's turn, and he said that he too did the show for his kids. "I was one of the first people to open up my life to the public," Piglet explained in his clue package. "It was before social media and — trust me — without the filters. The criticism was so much, I had to become a pretty private person after that, but being the Piglet was a freedom to just have fun," he added.
He sang Faithfully by Journey, which was dubbed as his "strongest performance" by Jeong, 51. McCarthy, 48, added, "I could absolutely see you taking home the Golden Mask, Piglet."
And, he did. Host Nick Cannon announced that the Chameleon won third place. The judges guess that the person behind the mask could be 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane, or Wiz Khalifa. The Chameleon turned out to be the last.
"My son probably going to be a little freaked out when he sees the Chameleon, but yeah, it was for him," Khalifa said. "I'm a fun dad, you know? I love to enjoy myself, I love to be myself and as much as I can encourage him to be himself and get into his imagination and sing dad's music as crazy as possible, I'll be the best example."
Black Swan, who took home the second position award, was revealed as JoJo. And, Piglet, who took home the first position award, turned out to be Nick Lachey.
“My kids have always been a huge fan of the show and so it was definitely something on my radar,” Lachey said, according to Variety. “So when it came up, I thought it was, hey, this is another shot. My kids will love it and it will be a fun kind of journey for us to all take together. I’m just thankful that it all worked out kind of last minute.”
Thicke and McCarthy had been right about Piglet's identity. "I was pretty sure that they were going to recognize my voice just because I’ve worked with everyone on that judging panel before," said Lachey.
References:
https://people.com/tv/the-masked-singer-season-5-finale-winner/
Cover image source: Getty Images | Photo by Frazer Harrison
