John Schneider Calls “The Masked Singer” the 'Glue That Held Me Together' After Wife Alicia's Death (Exclusive)

After finishing second on 'The Masked Singer' as Donut, Schneider talks to PEOPLE about his time on the show, calling it "greatest experience I've had doing music on television"

Warning: This post contains spoilers from the season 10 finale of The Masked Singer.

John Schneider has managed to find a silver lining in an unimaginably difficult year.

During Wednesday's season 10 finale of The Masked Singer, Schneider — dressed as the delectable Donut — finished as runner-up, coming in second to R&B singer NE-YO.

His appearance on the hit Fox show came at the right time, says Schneider, who lost his wife Alicia to breast cancer in February.

"What an amazing opportunity to be able to honor Alicia, to be able to honor people who are grieving, maybe educate people who are grieving a little bit, in front of millions of people," he tells PEOPLE. "I'm a pretty strong guy but I'm also a very emotional guy. Being out there on that stage dressed like a donut, singing some of the greatest songs ever written and having people respond to the songs and the performance with no notion that it was me, really, really helped John Schneider."

"It really helped me get through the worst year of my life. So I'm delighted to have done it," he adds.

Here, Schneider, 63, talks to PEOPLE about his appearance on The Masked Singer, what it was like performing as Donut, why he feels a higher power played a role in his casting — and costume! — and his plans for after the show.

Related: The Masked Singer: Find Out Who Won Season 10 During the Show's 'Most Competitive Finale'

PEOPLE: Why did you decide to join The Masked Singer? Is it something you had been watching previously?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: It was one of the shows that Alicia really wanted me to do. She would always say, 'You've got to do The Masked Singer.' I fully expected one day for Alicia to be there to help ... so when that opportunity came, I just had to kind of look toward heaven and kind of laugh because, of course, she still runs things but further away. And then, when they said, 'We'd kind of like you to be a Donut.'

Every Saturday, Alicia would go down to our local donut store, get me a bag of apple fritters. And I would eat one, only one, but donuts had been part of my life. For a long time, they were part of Alicia's and I's marriage and relationship. So again, they said, 'Donut,' and I just had to look up at the sky and go, 'Well, of course. This is you. It's got to be you.'

So it made me smile. It made me smile at a time when I hadn't smiled in a while. These were great signs, they were "God nods" we call them, that this was indeed the right thing to do. So I was excited about it from the very beginning. I loved every minute of it.

It was a great opportunity to be able to to entertain, yes, and to have fun, yes, but also to grieve and let people know that it's okay. Grieving is something you've got to do. And I liked that the the Donut grieving actually is helping people who are on the same road. It's not a job I ever wanted. It's nothing I ever really wanted to understand. But it is the hand that I've been dealt. And I'm doing to make the very best of it, in honor of my beautiful wife.

Related: A 'Rock 'n' Roll Legend' Unmasks During The Masked Singer's Group C Finals

How would you say this experience helped you process your grief and help you get back to doing things that bring you joy?

It's a perfect opportunity because I've got to be in front of people, openly grieving, but nobody knew who I was, which was great. What an amazing opportunity to be able to honor Alicia, to be able to honor people who are grieving, maybe educate people who are grieving a little bit, in front of millions of people? My god, what a platform.

For me, The Masked Singer is really the glue that held me together for the last couple of months. It was vitally important. It has made it so people were aware of the music, they're also aware of grief being a process. I think that grief is something that needs to be talked about publicly. It doesn't need to be sequestered away and hidden. The more you talk about it, the more power you are giving yourself and the more power, I think, you're taking away from your grief.

How does this experience compare to the other things you've done this year to honor Alicia's life and cope with your grief? (Schneider released a new studio album, We're Still Us, and a book he co-wrote with Alicia titled In the Driver’s Seat: Love, Loss & Living with No Regrets.)

My new album is a celebration of Alicia. It talks about grief. It's good for those who grieve. I was able to finish her book and put her book out, In The Driver's Seat, which I think that will be incredibly helpful to anyone who has been told they have cancer. It's about taking charge of your own diagnosis. And I put out a new moonshine.

But I tell you what? The lynchpin in all of that, the reason I was strong enough to do it all, was truly because of The Masked Singer. Really, doing The Masked Singer empowered me... I'm a pretty strong guy but I'm also a very emotional guy. Being out there on that stage dressed like a donut, singing some of the greatest songs ever written and having people respond to the songs and the performance with no notion that it was me, really, really helped John Schneider.

It really helped me get through the worst year of my life. So I'm delighted to have done it. I'm honored to have done it. I'm so impressed with the way they do this show. I've sung on stage a lot. I've done Broadway and concerts. I mean, for crying out loud, I've done it for 40 years but I've never, never experienced a group of people who do what they do with such excellence. From beginning to end, it was the greatest experience I've had doing music on television.

Related: John Schneider Shares the 'Lie I Had to Tell' in His Last Words to Wife Alicia Before Her Death (Exclusive)

What was it like to perform as Donut? Were there any kind of mishaps that cameras didn't catch, or any funny behind-the-scenes stories you can share?

The only mishap at all [was that] I run every morning so I would run up from Hollywood Boulevard, up around Yamashiro [Asian fusian restaurant], and I hurt my foot. So in the finale, I don't know if you can tell I'm limping or not, but I basically had broken my big toe. Having to put those monstrous shoes on and all of that to maneuver backstage and then up on stage, and then this is the time where I ran over the little catwalk to sing by the judges. I did that with a 50-pound Donut suit and broken left big toe. So that was my own fault. Probably I shouldn't have went up around Yamashiro. But it's a habit [to run] and I don't want to quit that habit. That was tough.

The only other thing is trying to get used to the head because I wear a hat on top of the donut that's two feet away from my stomach. So whenever I would get a little excited and tilt my head too far, if I tilt my head back then the chin strap would pull on my chin and I wouldn't be able to open my mouth. So there was a lot of math going on in that Donut costume while I was singing. But the great thing is you do a rehearsal backstage ... and you get to move your head around and see if how much freedom you do and don't have. But once you're on the stage, you're on your own. It was a big challenge.

Related: John Schneider Reveals His New (and First) Tattoo in Honor of Late Wife Alicia: 'It Makes Me Smile' (Exclusive)

How did it feel to get such a positive reception from the judges?

If I close my eyes, I can see the judges crying and I can see them leaping to their feet [after my performances]. And I tell you what? That, for me, is healing. That is very, very healing. This experience helped me get through, in a very big and very productive and grand way, the worst year of my life. So I'm forever in debt. I truly, truly am.

You've managed to do a lot this year. What's next for you in 2024?

There's a movie that I'm in the midst of writing. It's the third one. So that's on my bucket list, is to finish the trilogy that Alicia and I always planned on it being a trilogy, and one fell short. So I'm going to do that. And I'm really hoping that The Masked Singer will now make so many more people know that I sing. I'm really hoping that it's going to be a tremendous boost to the music I do, not only to We're Still Us, but stuff in the future. Maybe my 26th album is going to be the album that makes people go, 'Oh, yeah, John Schneider, the singer who was on Dukes of Hazzard,' not the other way around. Actually, they'll probably be like, 'He's a Donut,' but I guess forever it'll be Donut. Or maybe the Bonut, like Bo Duke, Bonut!

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The Masked Singer can be streamed on Hulu.

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