Colton Underwood revealed as Lovebird on “The Masked Singer”, says 'it's time' for a queer dating show

Plus, see who else was revealed in the special double-elimination Transformers Night episode of the show.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Masked Singer, season 11, episode 6, "Transformers Night."

On Wednesday's Transformers Night of The Masked Singer, robots weren't the only things in disguise: Group A's batch of mystery celebrities took the stage for the first time since the season 11 premiere.

This time around, a new wildcard was introduced to the group which previously featured Goldfish, Starfish, Ugly Sweater, and Lovebird. But, because only three singers can make it to the group finals next week, two people had to be unmasked in this episode.

After everybody had the chance to sing a song featured in the Transformers franchise — so “21 Guns” by Green Day (Starfish), “Brick House” by Commodores (Ugly Sweater), “All That You Are” by Goo Goo Dolls (Lovebird), “Baby Come Back” by Player (Goldfish), and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears (Koala) — the first elimination was as inevitable as the panel's bad guesses.

Lovebird was the unlucky contestant to take flight from the show first. After some truly confounding guesses from Robin Thicke (Josh Duhamel), Rita Ora (Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino), and Ken Jeong (Dwayne Johnson), it was only Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg who clocked that the Lovebird was Bachelor Nation's Colton Underwood.

After his unmasking, it was time to say goodbye to Koala, whom we had sadly just met. Nobody guessed his identity at all — Ora chose Terry Crews, Jeong opted for Deion Sanders, McCarthy-Wahlberg guessed Shannon Sharpe, and Thicke went with Michael Irvin. But the sports guesses were close enough: Koala was revealed to be former NFL linebacker DeMarcus Ware.

Below, EW spoke with Underwood about why he waited to do the show, the mental health initiatives he is working on, and why he thinks it's time for a queer dating show.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You said on the show that you wanted to do The Masked Singer for years — had you been asked and it didn't work out, or why was now the right time to do it?

COLTON UNDERWOOD: Yeah, it was sort of a mix. After my Netflix show [Coming Out Colton], and after I came out, the timing wasn't right in my life. I was still very much in my coming out process and healing and getting back in front of cameras was not in my cards, but I always knew a show like this is just so fun. And it was sort of a matter of timing just both with my schedule, but then also where I was in my personal life too. Because coming from reality TV, it's sort of a blend, and it's trying to figure out what I wanted, and what parts of me I wanted to carry on into this new chapter of my life.

Was the Masked Singer experience anything like you thought it would be?

It was one of the best experiences of my life. It was so liberating, it was so fun. It was such a healthy production. And as competitive as I got, I really somehow relaxed into it where I was like, this is just fun. I don't care if I win. I'm just here to have a good time, let loose a little bit and try something that I never thought that I would try in my life.

What was more intimidating to try: The Bachelor or The Masked Singer?

You know what? I just think it's different phases and different times in your life. I think a lot of people forget, because they see me now and I am 32 now, but when I first started [The Bachelorette and The Bachelor] I was in my mid-twenties and life changes, things happen. You get experience and you mature and you grow up and you sort of do it all in front of the public. So it's just sort of different fears I think, at different times in your life, and what you're going through. And I'm very, very glad that I waited to do this show until now because I'm a little more realized and I'm in a much healthier position in my life where I could really sort of lean in and enjoy the process of The Masked Singer.

What type of show are you looking to do next, or are you looking to take a break?

No, I'm actually getting back out. I felt like timing wise, this was great just because I took a solid year off and just needed some time with my husband to enjoy married life and focus on my personal life. But now I'm really getting back into the production and development. I have a docuseries that I'm working on right now for student athletes and I have a couple unscripted projects that I'm currently in development and working on. So just a lot of exciting things just for a future in entertainment that doesn't always involve me being on screen and dancing in a bird costume.

Bachelor Nation saw huge success with Golden Bachelor and sort of branching out into something other than just The Bachelor, The Bachelorette. Do you think it's time to finally have an LGBTQ season of that series, and would you be down to host something like that if it came to be?

Yeah, I've had talks with some of the producers over there, but I think beyond just The Bachelor, there's so many other incredible dating shows that might even be more well equipped format-wise. I think when you think about the format of The Bachelor, it's tricky and it's hard. Our community is so diverse and we play by different rules and I mean that with all the love and respect, and I think there's other shows like Love Is Blind and The Ultimatum that you saw did a queer season. But I definitely think there's a time and a place for a queer dating show. I think it's time. People, I think, would support it and they would love it. And I think with the representation it would be great.

You've been working on mental health awareness and initiatives. What are some recent wins for you in that space?

I have a bill in Congress right now [The Targeting Emotional and Mental Stability (“TEAMS”) Act], so it's been introduced in both the House and the Senate. It's bipartisan. Cory Booker is our lead Democrat, Senator John Boozman from Arkansas is our lead Republican. We have endorsements from NAMI, the NCAA. Basically the plan that we put together is just to start with student athletes, to really continue to collect data, but also just help student athletes, because student athlete suicides are on the rise in our country right now just with added pressures and NIL — and you just watched it with women's basketball. These athletes and these kids are on the biggest stage to perform and the pressures that are on them are so immense. So I'm really focusing my efforts right now on giving back to the mental health [community] and just... it's true to what I went through. The pressures got to me, and during COVID, I, like many people, had a mental health crisis and a mental health break, and I just want to help future generations.

What did you learn about yourself from doing The Masked Singer?

I learned that I can let go a little bit. I think so much. I always just worry of what people think of me. And I now, in this new chapter of my life, I'm just really leaning into saying yes and trying new things and being a little more adventurous in a carefree way. And I also learned that I have a little bit of coordination when it comes to dancing and singing, which was really fun. But yeah, it was such a great time.

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.