The Masked Singer Season 5 Winner Definitely Judged Those Wrong Guesses

[Warning: The following contains spoilers from The Masked Singer Season 5 finale! Read at your own risk!]

It shouldn't be a surprise by now that the celebrities who end up winning The Masked Singer are typically professional musicians. Even if they're multi-hyphenates who also perform in other mediums, every single winner so far is also known for music. But they've also been people who aren't necessarily pop culture's foremost vocalists — maybe they're better known for songwriting, like Season 3 winner Kandi Burruss, or their auto-tuned songs, like first-ever winner T-Pain, or most recently for acting, like Season 2 winner Wayne Brady and Season 4 winner LeAnn Rimes. 

Newly crowned Season 5 winner Nick Lachey fills all of those roles — he rose to fame as one-fourth of boy band 98 Degrees, and has acted, hosted, and even produced in recent years (he and wife Vanessa Lachey both produced and hosted 2020 Netflix reality hit Love Is Blind). But Lachey seemed to surprise the judges with his unexpected song choices and musical prowess, confusing them just enough to lead to some truly deranged guesses (like, say, every single early '00s boy band member, regardless of their vocal range or style). His identity was obvious to anyone who came of age in the 2000s, and even his 5-year-old daughter, but it took some of the judges a long time to come up with his name.

Lachey spoke to TV Guide about his Masked Singer experience, which he called "one of the more unique and fun things I've done in my career," why he wants to re-focus on music, and being in the public eye.

Every Masked Singer Season 5 Celeb, Clue, and Guess

In your first clue packaged you mentioned that you joined the season with three days' notice. How did that happen?
Lachey: I was on a ski trip with some buddies in Colorado and I got a call that, hey, would you be interested in being a part of this season of Masked Singer? I'd actually almost done Season 2 of Masked Singer [but] I had another TV thing going on where I couldn't make it work schedule-wise, but it was always something that was on my radar and something that really intrigued me. I knew my kids were big fans of the show. So when I got the call I was like, man, this could work. So we threw it together kind of last minute. They presented me with the Piglet costume and I was like, man, this is kind of meant to be. I'm from Cincinnati, which is called "Porkopolis" and the city of the Flying Pig, and my production company's called Flying Pig Productions, so I was like, this is a sign. I'm supposed to be doing this right now. So we just jumped right in.

Wait, really?
Lachey: Yeah, it's kind of bizarre. Ironically, my wife asked my kids, just watching the Masked Singer said, "Hey, if Daddy was ever going to do this show what should he be?" I think my daughter said a goat or bear or something, I don't know, and then my son, Camden, said Daddy should be a pig. This is too many signs pointing in the pig direction so we knew we were making the right call by being a part of it.

Did your kids know you were going to be on it? What have they said as you've watched this season?
Lachey: They didn't know. We had a little premiere party for a small group of people that knew, and I was holding my daughter Brooklyn. Literally, I think I got three notes out of my mouth and she said, that's Daddy! So they knew my voice right away. So yeah, we confirmed that it was Daddy but they still don't know that I've won. Every week it's like, "Oh, is this the week that Daddy gets unmasked?" So it's been fun to go on that ride with them through the season.

I, too, recognized your voice immediately.
Lachey: I kind of went into this knowing that I can't really mask my voice very well. I know the judging panel. I have worked with all of them or have been with all of them on some level, so I was pretty confident that at some point they were going to recognize that it was me. So I didn't really try to worry about that too much, I just worried about hey, what can I do to go out there and make this Piglet the best character he can be and give the best performances I can give? If they guess me they guess me, so be it, but try to go out there and put my best foot forward as a performer.

Some of the things you did were really impressive, like the operatic opening of "Superstition" or some really interesting song choices that aren't really what you're known for.
Lachey: I appreciate that! The goal was to show a wide range of music and musical performances. I didn't want it to be one-dimensional. I tried to really pick [interesting] songs - and I give Vanessa a lot of credit for this too, she and I would sit and drink a glass of wine and go through songs and brainstorm and try to pick things that were, you know, some songs that were personally meaningful, other songs that hey, I'm not really familiar with that but I kind of like it, let's take a chance on that, but really try to create a journey. If you're going to make it to the end, I feel like you have to show some range and diversity and I tried to do that.

Did you ever feel like you had to remind people why they know you in the first place? Hanson, the Russian Dolls, said that it was a way to re-introduce themselves to America.
Lachey: If you're a singer like Hanson or myself and you're on the show, I think there's an added pressure to really do well and sound well because this is what you do. I mean, this is what you do professionally and this is what people know you for so you definitely want to put your best foot forward and make sure that you're sounding good because I think otherwise, people will be like, "Ooh, I expected better out of them," kind of thing, you know? But yeah, if you're able to remind people that hey, this is what I do and I like to think I do pretty well at times, that's a good thing, that's an added plus. The ironic thing about this show is when you're in it you don't know who you're competing against, right? So really the only thing you can do is compete with yourself. I always say it's kind of like golf, you're just trying to post your best score. You're competing with and against yourself. You just put your best score up and hope for the best, because you don't know who you're singing against, if it's John Legend under there or it's an actor trying to sing. You have no idea because you can't you haven't heard them, so you're flying blind.

In recent years you'd moved away from music a little bit and been hosting and producing and acting. What did that give you that music didn't? Do you want to refocus on music now, or are you just taking all of the opportunities that come your way?
Lachey: I've tried to approach every opportunity with equal enthusiasm and put myself into it and work hard at it, whether it's hosting - which I really enjoy doing. I enjoy hosting. I enjoy talking to people. It's part of who I am a part of what I like to do, but I think at the core of who I am is a singe. I love music and I love to do that. But we've been [doing music a bit] - 98 Degrees got back together I guess it was in 2013 and started touring. We toured with New Kids and Boys II Men, so since then we've been touring off and on and done some new music, a Christmas record. I feel like that musical side of me has definitely been kind of reborn with those guys and we're excited to continue to do new stuff together. We have new single coming out July 9 of this year and a whole new remixed record coming out this summer. We're hitting the road end of August through the fall so music is something that's where I started and where I'll end up for sure. It's what I love to do, but I'm also really lucky that I've gotten other opportunities along the way and I've tried to really embrace them and work hard at those too.

Your Netflix reality show, Love Is Blind, came out in February 2020 just before the pandemic. Do you wonder what would have happened if it came out just a month or so later?
Lachey: It got a little bit of a second wind. It had already been a hit before the pandemic, but it definitely was one of those binge shows, and then we were into Tiger King, but it was definitely one of those binge shows that kind of kicked off this Covid year. Look, it's thrilling to be a part of a show that people responded to. It was a big hit for Netflix and we're actually in the middle of doing Season 2 right now so we're excited to get that back out to everybody soon. Again, you know, I'm lucky. I look back on my career and I've been able to do a lot of very cool things. Love Is Blind, being able to work with your wife and be a part of it, that's been really, really cool.

It's interesting, you talked a lot in your clue packages about revealing so much of yourself on Newlyweds and not sharing as much about your private life after that, and it's kind of true. You're in the public eye, but you don't talk about your private life in the same detail.
Lachey: I think you live and learn no matter what it is you're doing, no matter what we're talking about. You have to learn from those things or you're just an idiot, so I've tried to learn from everything that I've done, good or bad. I mean, we're still in the public eye, my wife's in the public eye, but I think that I would never be as open and transparent as I was at other points in my life. It's just the way it is and you learn from experience and you move on. So that's an important part of growing, I think, and learning. So I definitely try to do that.

Throughout the season it feels like the judges guessed literally every member of the Backstreet Boys and 'NSync, and even your brother. What was it like to hear those very wrong guesses?
Lachey: It's funny when you're up there hyperventilating, basically, and there's sweat dripping in your eyes, and you're under this mask and you're listening to them talk and they come up with these [wild guesses], especially Ken. You're like, what are you talking about? Some of these guesses are just so left field. But it's gotta be hard, too, to be in their shoes. You obviously know who you are so you're like, how can you not see that? But they're flying blind, really, so it's got to be tricky to be on the judging panel and trying to come up with these guesses. But it is funny as you're standing there under the mask. There's definitely some audible laughs happening under the mask that no one ever knew happened.