“The Masked Singer” finalist Donut on honoring late wife's memory and why the show helped him heal

The actor under the Donut mask tells EW why it was important for him to tackle so many new projects in "what is, by definition, the worst year of [his] life."

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the season 10 finale of The Masked Singer.

Donut has made us cry for the final time on The Masked Singer stage.

As he's done all season, the mouth-watering mask brought the emotion with his performances of “You Are So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker and “Drift Away” by Dobie Gray. He managed to beat out Gazelle (who was not Constance Wu, a.k.a. Janel Parrish) and Sea Queen (Macy Gray), but Cow edged him out for the Golden Mask Trophy.

When it came time for him to unmask, Robin Thicke and Ken Jeong both guessed Donut was Tom Jones, and Nicole Scherzinger was convinced he was Engelbert Humperdinck. It was just Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg who correctly guessed he was none other than Dukes of Hazzard actor and singer John Schneider.

Ahead of the reveal, EW spoke with Schneider about why he thinks he's stronger for doing the show, and how it helped him heal in the wake of the loss of his wife Alicia Allain Schneider, who died in February at age 53 after a battle with cancer. Plus, he shares his advice for those grieving lost loved ones, and opens up about why it was important for him to tackle so many new projects in "what is, by definition, the worst year of [his] life."

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Hi John. How are you?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: I'm good. Do I sound like a Donut?

Well, now I am trying to imagine what a Donut should sound like.

Well, I guess like me, I don't know. It was truly such an honor to be the Donut guy. And I think now that I've seen the other costumes on television, I didn't really see any in person, and I think the customers really rocked the Donut costume. I think that was the best one. I really do.

I got to see it in person, so I have to agree with you there.

It was big. It was a lot of fun. There was a lot of costume. It was really, really fun. And people, they treated me so incredibly well there and I really needed it. It's a very fragile time for me, but I'm stronger for having done The Masked Singer. I truly am.

Thank you for being so raw and honest on the show. I never thought a Donut would make me cry.

It was one of the shows that Alicia wanted me to do. She's the one that got me on Dancing With the Stars, and she said, next, it's going to be Masked Singer. And I said, "Baby, babe, come on. Nobody knows I sing." And so I do think that she had a lot to do with it from heaven. I really do. I really think that somehow she put a bee in somebody's bonnet, and there I wound up on The Masked Singer. I know that she enjoyed it. I know there's a lot of people out there who are grieving, and I like to think that story that TMS chose to underline for me is helping other people get through, not only get through their grief, but get through their grief during the holidays. This is my first Christmas, my first New Year's without Alicia right here by my side. So this is a hard time. But now, I mean now that if people know that it was me, I think I'm going to usher into a whole new area of healing because people have said that they feel better for having heard what I was talking about on the show. So I'm excited about it. And I tell people if I didn't cry, my ears water. So I'm kind of an emotional guy, or Donut, anyway. But it was a wonderful experience, and I'm only sorry I didn't do it sooner, but I think this was a perfect time.

Do you feel like it helped you heal?

Yes, absolutely. It helped me heal. I tell you, watching the judges respond to the story and to the songs, that, for me, was the most healing part of it. Watching them actually cry, the comments that they had about Robin [Thicke] losing his dad — there was a bunch of people hurting. So I could tell that my story, my own personal challenges while doing the show, actually, I think even helped the judges. So I'm delighted. And now a bunch more people know that I do actually sing. Maybe they'll run out and get the new album, which is my 26th album, and it's called, We're Still Us, and it's a beautiful tribute to My Smile, my tribute to Alicia. So I think they'll really enjoy that. Especially if they've lost loved ones or if they've lost a spouse in particular, I think they'll enjoy it. It's very healing music.

What did you make of everyone thinking you were Tom Jones all season?

Isn't that crazy? That's crazy. Yeah, they did catch me though, eventually. It was Tom Jones and then Engelbert Humperdinck. I know of all of them. They're quite a bit older than me. What a great comparison, as a guy who sings, that they think I'm Tom Jones. That's just wonderful. What greater compliment would there be? So I was delighted with that. I was laughing because I know Robin and I know Nick [Cannon], actually. I know Nick better than I know anybody there. So that was the funny thing is I'm standing there next to Nick and he's helped with my Children's Miracle Network Hospitals event every year for the last eight years, 10 years. So I've seen Nick a lot, and I think he was the one that was most blown away when he found out that was me.

You mentioned your album, but you have so much going on. There's a book, moonshine, a movie...

It's crazy. Yeah. Well, this year had to be, if I didn't choose to make this the most productive, it was going to be a very bad down year for me. And I know Alicia would not stand for that. So yeah, the new album is We're Still Us. There's a new book, In the Driver’s Seat: Love, Loss & Living With No Regrets, which I wrote with Alicia. That is about taking charge of your own diagnosis. She had stage 4 breast cancer. So it's a great read. It's a great way to give you strength and a plan if someone has told you you have cancer. Then there's my new movie, which is hysterically funny, and we need some of that. It's called Jingle Smells. And then you mentioned it, there's, because of Dukes of Hazzard, I like to say I've been on probation since 1979, but now finally I have my own moonshine and I'm going to try to dunk a donut in my moonshine, see what that tastes like. [Laughs] But that's called Revenuer’s Reserve. So, if you like moonshine, then check out it out. So that's an awful lot to have done in what is, by definition, the worst year of my life.

But like I said early on in my Facebook post about Alicia, she'd say, look, go get something done. Don't hide yourself away. Don't stick your head in the sand. Use this as an opportunity to speak to other people who are grieving. So when the opportunity came to do all these other things, yeah, but to do The Masked Singer, what a great opportunity to be able to publicly show that it's okay to grieve. Of course it hurts. It's going to hurt. It's going to hurt in places you didn't know you had, but do it publicly because there are people out there who need an example of what to do when you are facing this kind of devastation.

So I do believe with all my heart and soul that Alicia is very proud of the Donut on The Masked Singer. Very, very proud. And she's laughing and she's dancing. She called me her "forever 4-year-old." So, [she's saying], "Way to go my forever 4-year-old." What better way to display that you are forever 4-years-old than to show up in front of millions of people dressed as a Donut and singing some of the greatest songs ever — "Georgia on My Mind," and "You Are So Beautiful" and "Drift Away." I mean, I really had an opportunity to sing some of the greatest songs of all time.

I imagine she'd be very proud, and happy to see how much you keep her memory alive in everything you do.

Look, we have to move on somehow. We are still here, but whatever you can do publicly, whatever words you say... They say that people die twice. Once when they stop breathing, and the second time is the last time their name is mentioned here. So my goal is to mention Alicia's name to make sure that more and more people know who she is, who she was. And that's not just because I'm a celebrity. Anyone can do that. So I urge you folks, if you've lost a spouse, don't let them go away. Talk about them next time you have a donut and coffee, talk about them. The next time you go out and you go bowling or you play golf or whatever it is you do, we have an obligation, I think, to keep our loved ones in the conversation. So that's what I choose to do. 

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