“This has been an overwhelming experience,” revealed an emotional LeAnn Rimes during her unmasked interview with host Nick Cannon on Wednesday night’s finale of “The Masked Singer.” The Grammy winner was revealed as the Sun after defeating Mushroom and Crocodile to win the Golden Mask trophy. Watch the Sun’s powerful performance of “The Story” by Brandi Carlile above.
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“I didn’t expect this to be this much work,” the country superstar confessed. “I was thinking, this will be easy, this will be fun! And it was a blast. I’ve totally been brought back to when I was a kid and I remember I was five years old when I told everyone I wanted to sing. I’ve always wondered how I knew at that age that I wanted to sing. I kind of discovered it again behind this mask and it was to give and receive love. And that’s totally what’s happened! It’s been so beautiful and it was so much fun.”
Panelists Nicole Scherzinger and Jenny McCarthy both guessed LeAnn was behind the Sun mask before she revealed herself at the end of Wednesday’s finale. Ken Jeong thought singer and actress Mandy Moore was behind the mask and Robin Thicke guessed “American Idol” alum Katharine McPhee.
Plenty of hints were dropped in the Sun’s clue packages throughout the season to help the panel figure out her true identity. The blueberries in Sun’s package were a clue to LeAnn’s hit Grammy-winning song, “Blue.” The jaguar in Sun’s package was a clue to LeAnn’s children’s book called “Jag.” The fire breathing super clue was a nod to her album, “Spitfire.”
LeAnn advanced to the Season 4 finale as the top singer from Group A. Before defeating Taylor Dayne (Popcorn) in the Super Six, she outlasted Busta Rhymes (Dragon), Brian Austin Green (Giraffe) and married duo Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black (Snow Owls). In the finale, she earned the Golden Mask trophy by receiving more votes than runner-up Aloe Blacc (Mushroom) and third-place finisher Nick Carter (Crocodile).
