The Masked Singer Winner Jokes They Wanted to Go Home Night 1

On December 19, 2024By Littum

Under The Masked Singer‘s season 12 finale, Buffalos – now known as Boyz II Men – succeeded where no group has done before, becoming the first band to win the Golden Mask trophy, but they didn’t initially have victory in mind.

“For the fifteenth time they called us … and we decided we were going to do it,” Wanya Morris exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the final on Wednesday 18 December. “Because they called us a couple of times and we weren’t able to do it. So last time we thought, “Okay, let’s just get it over with so they never call us again.”

Wanyá, 51, and his bandmates, Nathan Morris (no relation) and Shawn Stockmanthought it would be “good exposure,” that it would be “good exposure,” but they didn’t imagine they could take home top honors. The Masked Singer has a history of eliminating major recording artists during season premieres, and the guys thought that might be their destiny.

“(We thought), ‘We’re probably not going to win because they know who we are. We’re either going to be second-guessed or if we mask our voices, we know they’re not going to like who we are and we’re going to kicked off,'” Wanyá recalled, before Nathan, 53, interjected: “We were hoping to kick off the first night so we could go back home!”

After they started filming, however, they changed their tune. “When we first got there and we saw the energy and we felt the whole vibe, we were just like, ‘Look, man, as long as we’re here, we might as well stay,'” Wanyá shared. Us. “And win. And then go!”

Shawn, 52, admitted the trio “didn’t expect much from this experience” but they soon “really hit it off” performing as the Buffalos.

“It allowed us to be ourselves, believe it or not,” he explained. “The masks allowed us to reveal things about who we are as singers, who we are as people, music lovers, because a lot of people wouldn’t connect Boyz II Men to Toto or other songs that we did on the show, so it was nice for people to get a glimpse of our playlist, songs and music that we love, from artists that we’ve enjoyed in some cases since we were kids, so it was nice and it went deeper than just winning it all .”

The guys even choked on stage during the finals, which Wanyá attributed to the unusual circumstances of competing on The Masked Singer as well as the realization that taping the show had brought them closer together.

“What made us more emotional than anything else was the fact that we had overcome a situation that most people would cower from. It was really hot in those suits and we didn’t know if we would be able to perform like (the final) from the beginning,” he explained. “It just felt like we were a new group to me. And we were accepted as good singers, as good artists, and we weren’t even really human. … We were all Buffalo, you know what I mean? Although we are individuals, we all embodied the same character and we overcame every obstacle, dehydration, we overcame anxiety. We overcame everything and we sang our hearts out to the people.”

Shawn agreed, adding, “It just made us realize that we still have the energy that we’ve always had (since) 33 years ago. Sometimes, with any relationship, you tend to take that momentum , you’ve built on, for granted, and it made us refocus. It made us remember why we were doing this in the first place.”

Boyz II Men have no plans to slow down in the new year, with tour dates booked all the way through July.

“A lot of people use the word ‘relevant’ in their own terms, and we feel like we’re relevant to each other, and that’s more important to us than anything else,” Nathan said. “And as long as we stay relevant to each other, we’ll be able to ride right into what everyone else is doing. And we’ve got a lot coming.”

Related: ‘The Masked Singer’ Winners Over the Years: Where Are They Now?

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