Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard Recap Their Journey Back to Reality TV on 'The Masked Singer'

Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard unmasked alongside 'The Masked Singer' host Nick Cannon

Twenty-one years ago, Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard were rocketed to celebrity status when they became the final two contestants on American Idol's second season. Over 24 million people cast their votes for them as individuals, with Ruben beating Clay. But now they return back to the network that gave them their start in FOX not against each other, but together. As the Beets, their slick harmonies wowed the judges, while simultaneously avoiding their guesses. Unfortunately, their reprise on a reality singing show did not give them the same success as 2002, as they were eliminated right before the quarterfinal.

The day after their reveal, Clay and Ruben spoke to Parade.com about their time on The Masked Singer. 

Related: Everything to Know About The Masked Singer Season 11

I know you both had been leading very separate lives, including Clay, your foray into politics. And then you came together for a 20th anniversary reunion tour last year. So when did The Masked Singer come into the picture?
Clay Aiken: We were on tour together when they called. And I think they probably had seen that we were on tour and thought, "Hey, that's an interesting pairing that people might not think of as a duo." And they called and it just happened to work that we had just enough time to do it in between tour dates. And so we literally left, and went to another tour after we were done. And both of us have watched the show over the past years that it's been on and always been intrigued by it. I just think it's silly. And so we didn't have to be talked into it at all, did we?
Ruben Studdard: Not at all. I think that probably talking us out of it is probably the most accurate thing if we wouldn't have done it. Just because we enjoy performing together. We were already doing that. And I think it just worked out perfectly. Then we were on tour and we were in that space where we're already in the mode of being the "Ruben and Clay," the knockout punch.

Had either one of you been approached for The Masked Singer prior to this season, given your affiliation with Fox reality from your Idol days?
Ruben: I hadn't been approached by the show before. I definitely thought about it, because I liked the show. I just think it's great. It's fun. How many places do you get to go and basically do the karaoke in the costume?
Clay: I don't even know if I have. Because I had told agents and managers back in 2014 I'm not doing anything. So if they came to them, it didn't even get to me because I was it got nixed before it got to me. So I do not know the answer to that. But it happened exactly where it was supposed to happen as far as I'm concerned, because I think it was more fun. It was certainly more fun for me doing it with my friend, and I think we sounded good together.

I agree! To that point, were you surprised to be eliminated over Gumball and not make it to the finals?
Ruben: I mean, yes. Maybe Gumball had a better performance. Maybe he had some fancy moves that we just couldn't perfect with that suit that we had on. Maybe that was the thing. But I know that we sounded better for sure.
Clay: I was not surprised for a whole bunch of reasons. Not the least of which is the fact that I've never won anything in my life. 

Yeah, I know you have a history of second-place finishes on reality TV.
Clay: And officially we're second place in Group B. But I had sort of secretly hoped for it. Because we had a tour date coming up, and we had no breaks at all. We had to get to Alaska. So going home was a slight blessing in disguise for me.

It's one thing to perform with your friend. It's another to do it while you're in a giant beet costume. What was that experience like?
Ruben: I mean, it was a task. It wasn't like we just put a costume on and went out there. People had to literally get us on stage because we could not see where to walk while we were in those costumes. And they were telling us, "Okay, you take five steps to the front and you may fall off. So you don't want to do that. Just stand still and rock from side to side." Like the first song, I think we just stood there and did this kind of thing. [Mimes swaying from side to side.]
Clay: We were supposed to turn, but we didn't know which way to turn. So we didn't. We were told we could turn, but we couldn't. I mean, we couldn't see squat. And if you look at the costumes, as the root itself begins to form, that's where our head was. I mean, the eyes were down at our stomachs and the mouth was down by our waist. So those mics that we were holding were fake, too. And we had the Madonna mics. I think I'm probably wrong, but I think that most costumes, people actually can sing in a handheld microphone through the mouth hole of their costume. We were singing on those Madonna mics and having to keep our head set right. Because if we moved our head too much, the whole costume would [topple]. It was a lot. But you know, who gets to say they get to do those things? It was crazy. So I don't regret it. But we weren't thrilled while we were wearing them. And when we were finally unmasked, I think I got frostbite just from going 200 degrees inside that to all of a sudden the air conditioning hitting us.

The judges really couldn't figure out who you were, throwing out guesses of pairs from Brooks and Dunn to Zach Braff and Donald Faison to even Josh Groban and Brian McKnight. Are you happy when reacting to these wrong guesses that you're evading them? Or are you more ticked off that they're not recognizing your voice?
Ruben: Because we tried to disguise our voices, we were trying not to be recognized. But once we got on stage, and we started singing, it's kind of hard because I'm thinking about not knocking Clay over or stepping off the stage. So my whole focus was on trying to make sure I had the right marks.
Clay: It's interesting that you asked it the way you did. I mean, when we first stepped up there after "Home," I didn't want them to get us right. Because I thought, "Well, that'll ruin the whole surprise if they get us right." But then, when they absolutely did not come anywhere near getting us right, for a second. I was like, "Well, [expletive], do they think we're dead?!" [Laughs.] So I mean, I know I haven't performed in a long time, but damn. So there was a little bit of that until it started becoming obvious the types of people they were guessing.

And I think this was the brilliance of us doing it together, that we were a duo on the stage. And they were obviously thinking, "We need to think of duos. KC and JoJo Brooks and Dunn, Dan and Shay." So they were thrown off. And we happen to know Ken Jeong is a huge Idol fan. So it's not like they didn't know. They were thinking of duos And "Ruben and Clay." Yes, those names go together in your head, but not as a duo. And I think that threw them off.
Ruben: Also, I've watched the show before we were on it. And I've seen them guests my name and Clay's name a couple of times separately. So to your point, Clay, I think it kind of threw them off. They were thinking, if we were on the show, we'd probably be there solo.

Next, check out our interview with Jenifer Lewis who was eliminated in The Masked Singer Season 11 Episode 8.