‘The Masked Singer’ Reveals Season 11 Winner Goldfish as Vanessa Hudgens

Warning: this article contains spoilers The masked singer season 11, episode 13, “Finale: One Mask Takes It All.”

What started with 16 masks was reduced to two in Wednesday’s Season 11 finale The masked singerwith one contestant taking it all in the end, in what may have been the closest battle yet on the show.

Before all that, though, the episode began with the traditional recaps of finalists Gumball and Goldfish’s journeys, and host Nick Cannon told us that both contestants would have two chances to sing their hearts out in a final effort to win the Trophy. Golden Mask. . The panel – Rita Ora, Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, and Robin Thicke – also had fun in the recap, as Cannon forced them to show us all their (bad) thought processes for their Gumball and Goldfish guesses. long season.

When it came time for the first wave of performances, the two finalists were surprised, with Gumball opting for Disclosure’s “Latch” with Sam Smith and Goldfish singing Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.” Both performances were lively and full of energy and proved why Gumball and Goldfish deserved to be there.

From there, Cannon instructed Ora to press the Prime Delivery button, which was still there for some reason, and handed over the Golden Mask Trophy… for some reason. McCarthy-Wahlberg understood the oddity of this and made a joke at Jeong’s expense (naturally), saying of the package, “I thought it would be a booster seat for Ken, but no such luck.”

Gumball and Goldfish ended with performances of Styx’s “Renegade” and Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” respectively, the latter leaving the panel tearful. So much so that they started crying about the (possible) end of Ora’s time on the program. After all the waterworks, it was time to finally crown a winner, and Goldfish o-fish-ially swam away with the title.

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This meant Gumball had to unmask, and the final guesses about his identity weren’t… the panel’s best work to date. McCarthy-Wahlberg and Thicke guessed Derek Hough, and Jeong stuck with his guess about Taran Killam. Now there was more reason to be upset, because at the beginning of the episode she had guessed Friday Night Lights‘ Taylor Kitsch, but inexplicably went with Joseph Gordon-Levitt at the last moment.

It wasn’t kitsch, but it was indeed Friday Night Lights, Dixie HartIt is Gina and Georgia star Scott Porter, though, and Ora was understandably upset with herself for the last-minute switch. Ora and the panel fared much better with their guesses about Goldfish: both she and McCarthy-Wahlberg realized that Goldfish was none other than actress and singer Vanessa Hudgens.

Before the revelation, Weekly entertainment caught up with newly named Season 11 champion Hudgens to talk about why she decided to do the show now, why she doesn’t plan on releasing any more music, and her hilarious reaction to longtime friend Ora joining the show.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Congratulations on your win, first of all! Are you a competitive person or were you more there to have fun?

VANESSA HUDGENS: I mean both. I’m very competitive, but I feel like I’m more competitive when it comes to athletics, physical things. In this situation, I am the most competitive with myself. I’m my own worst critic, so I was doing what I could to myself proud and being as thorough as possible, because even though I was anonymous, it’s still me down there, and I want to be proud of the work I was doing.

How long have they been asking you to do the show? I feel like you’re someone they’ve been chasing since day one.

It was a good minute. It definitely has. The first time was years ago, and it happened at the perfect time, and my fans asked, saying, “We want more music, we want to sing anything, give it to us, please.” And I thought, you know, this would be a really interesting way to give my fans what they want, but make sure they’re really fans. [Laughs] And they are!

Oh yeah, people knew it was you right away, from the first episode.

I wasn’t really trying to cover it up. I was covering myself, so I felt like that was good enough.

Speaking of which, Gumball aka Scott Porter, who you worked with before, he told me yesterday that he hit you right away. Did you discover it too?

No, I was the worst! I could never be a judge on this show, and if I did, I would need quite for help because I was simply lost. And I also invested a lot! I was trying, I would watch people’s performances after mine and I would sit backstage and try to figure it out and I would get so lost, and I had no idea.

The dashboard also suffers all the time, so you’re not alone! However, one person on the panel who didn’t have any difficulties was Rita Ora, who knew you from a very early age. I know this was all filmed months ago, so you’ve already had a chance to connect through your Masked experience?

Yes we have. We’re friends, and it’s so funny how this all happened, because we were together about two weeks before the show started, and I found out after the fact that she was a judge, and I was like, oh God. And then I had my first introduction, and she guessed it was me, and then I thought, Well, there go our dinner plansbecause I can’t sit at the dinner table and look at her and not say, “Girl.” But yeah, no, she’s the best. I love her. She’s always been a wonderful bright light and fun energy to be around.

Speaking of fans wanting more music, The masked singer Maybe it will make you rethink releasing more music in the future?

No, I always say that life is a matter of priorities and that is not a priority at the moment. Who knows? Maybe in the future, maybe it will be, but as of now, it’s not yet.

You have Bad Boys: Ride or Die hitting theaters on June 5th. What can you tell us about this?

Yes, it’s literally a huge summer blockbuster. It’s the series we know and love with the characters you know and love so much, meeting them at this time in their lives. They’re not the cheerful young agents they once were, and they really lean into it. And it’s funny, you get to see a little bit of weakness in these really strong characters and see them lean on each other and have each other pick up the slack, but it’s just a good, fun ride that will leave you laughing the whole time. .

And what was it like watching Will Smith and Martin Lawrence doing their thing after all this time?

This is the best. It really is the best. I feel like I can always be in the front row of a stand-up comedy show whenever I’m around them because they’re always cracking jokes and just watching them work is such an honor.

You have a lot of exciting things going on right now – like becoming a mother for the first time – but what else do you have on the horizon or are you going to take a step back for a bit?

I’m taking it day after day. No, week to week is as far as I can go right now. [Laughs.] So we’ll see. I don’t know, there’s still a lot on the to-do list, so we’ll get back to it at some point.

What did you learn about yourself by doing The masked singer?

Probably how much weight fame has, and when I was able to take it off, I felt so free and liberated. So I guess tell the young people out there, be careful what you wish for and make sure you’re doing things for the right reasons, because fame itself is not the reason to do things.