‘The Masked Singer’ Winner Nick Lachey Admits His Kids Guessed ‘Right Away’ He Was Piglet

FOX

And the winner of ‘The Masked Singer’ season 5 is… Nick Lachey! HL spoke EXCLUSIVELY with the champ about becoming Piglet, doing the show for his kids, and what it was like inside the Piglet costume.

The Masked Singer has crowned its season 5 winner, and it’s none other than the very talented Nick Lachey! Nick was announced as the winner and unmasked during the season 5 finale event on May 26. HollywoodLife got EXCLUSIVE scoop from Nick about all things Piglet.

“You work so hard on that show, it’s just nice to feel rewarded and validated at the end,” Nick told HollywoodLife. “I was just proud to get to the finals. Black Swan is such an incredible singer and Chameleon with such a great performer. I just wanted to get to the finals and then I could have lived with whatever outcome came out of that. But that being said, I’m very proud to have taken the whole thing.”

When it comes to The Masked Singer, keeping the celebrities involved a secret is paramount. Nick revealed who knew about his Masked Singer gig and how his kids knew he was the Piglet from the start. “My wife [Vanessa Lachey] knew. We didn’t tell my kids initially, so we watched the first episode together,” Nick said. “I think I literally got two or three notes out of my mouth when my daughter, who I was holding, turned to me and said, ‘That’s daddy!’ They knew right away that that was my voice, so we confirmed that, yes, this is what’s daddy’s been doing for the last month and why he hasn’t been around. So they had fun watching it, but they don’t know if I win or not. We’ve had fun taking that ride together.”

Being inside the Piglet costume wasn’t an easy feat for Nick. But he adapted as the season continued. “It was definitely heavy, hard to breathe, hard to move,” the singer revealed. “I wore an ice vest to kind of keep it cool because it was super hot, but what I realized after the first performance was that the ice vest was kind of restricting my breathing and weighing me down, so I decided that I’d rather be hot than not being able to really breathe as well. It was definitely a learning curve. My whole life I’ve performed on stage so I feel comfortable with that part of it, but the way we were doing it with this costume is totally like starting over. I had to relearn kind of how to perform in this costume with this mask. I think the thing I’m most proud of is kind of taking on that challenge and figuring it out and making it all the way through.”

Nick cherishes The Masked Singer experience after not being able to perform for “basically a year” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was just grateful to be on a stage performing and singing great songs and doing what I love to do,” Nick said. “I think it was just a different kind of challenge as a performer. On some level, I’ve never had the challenge of doing it in this way. Also, what was fun about this experience was sharing it with my kids. It was just one of the reasons I did it. I knew how much they loved the show, and I knew that we’d have fun as a family going on this ride together. Those are the things that I pick out of it — just the chance to perform and the chance to share it with my kids was pretty special.”

After The Masked Singer, Nick has a big summer planned. Nick and his band, 98 Degrees, have announced their 98 Days of Summer, which kicks off June 11. The band will reunite to release (and remix) music. Nick told HollywoodLife that 98 Days of Summer is all for the fans.

“When all this started to lift one of them kind of came up with a way to thank our fans for sticking by us and get back out there,” he said. “We’re super excited to do some new music and also put some really cool remixes on some of the classic 98 Degrees songs. The new single ‘Where Do You Want To Go’ comes out July 9. We love it. We think it’s probably one of our best songs ever, so we’re super, super excited for everyone to hear it. I’m just excited to be doing what we love to do and give our fans what they love to hear. Hopefully, before too long, we’ll be back on the road doing shows, and we’ll be back to back to normal on some level. I’m excited to have all this new material coming out for our fans to gobble up and enjoy.”