The Masked Singer reveals first out of season 7: McTerrier didn't want to be a 'jackass,' but 'totally screwed it up'

Warning: This article contains spoilers about the season 7 premiere of The Masked Singer.

The Masked Singer season 7 has officially gone off-leash.

The premiere episode, which introduced viewers to the first five contestants of the season — Firefly, Ram, Cyclops, Thingamabob, and McTerrier — featured not one but two major mishaps on stage.

After his rendition of Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend," during which he fell and seemed to be bumping into things, McTerrier stumbled at the edge of the stage and his costume's head came completely off. The contestant was quick on his paws, though, and turned around to cover his face as the panelists did the same.

Then, later in the episode, Firefly had a medical issue arise on stage and had to stop mid-performance of "Ain't Nobody" by Chaka Khan. Thankfully, she was fine, and was later able to finish her song to close out the episode, which also featured renditions of Thingamabob's "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi, Cyclops' "My Sacrifice" by Creed, and Ram's "I Want You to Want Me" by Cheap Trick.

When it was all said and done, McTerrier had to leave the pack, and was revealed to be not Rudy Giuliani as previously rumored, but Charm City Cakes founder, Food Network star, and New York Times bestselling author Duff Goldman. EW caught up with Goldman before the big reveal to find out the real story behind his costume mishap, whether or not he plans to immortalize his character in cake form, and what he wanted to accomplish by being on The Masked Singer.

Michael Becker/FOX

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Walk us through what happened on stage. It seemed like you maybe couldn't see at all the entire time you were up there.

DUFF GOLDMAN: You can't see out of that thing. It's impossible. There's a little hole, you can see like down the mouth. There's a long snout and there's a tongue in your way, and so you got a little bit of vision there. And then if you look straight down, you can see your feet out of your mouth. And there was a hole in the neck that you can see. But other than that you can't see. I think I bumped into one of the dancers at one point. I don't know if they're gonna show it, but I actually fell off the drum riser when I was done playing the drums, too. I was falling all over the place. I'm also not very coordinated. [Laughs]

Your costume looks like one of the wild cakes you'd make on Ace of Cakes. What would be harder, performing as McTerrier again or making a McTerrier cake?

Oh, definitely making a cake. Yeah, the hair would be very difficult to make out of cake. Fur is always a challenge — making fur look good, but still making it out of sugar is really difficult. And you know, it's 3D, you got a big snout sticking out, you got all this negative space you have to deal with. I mean it's difficult, but, you know, I make cakes every day. And getting on a stage and singing a silly song is super fun for me. I really enjoyed it.

You did well, too, because the judges thought you might be Ewan McGregor!

I know, some of the people that they are guessing, I was like, "When Travis Barker hears that they think it was him playing the drums, he's gonna be really mad." [Laughs]

Michael Becker/Fox Ace of Cakes star Duff Goldman appears on 'The Masked Singer'

So, how did you feel about the elimination then?

You know, I was disappointed that I wasn't gonna get a chance to sing my next song, which I was really excited about. I was going to sing "All Star" by Smash Mouth.

Aw, man.

Yeah, it would have been great. I was bummed I wasn't able to do that. But yeah, as far as my dreams of becoming a professional singer being gashed upon a rock, and not getting my record contract going — I wasn't trying to be a singer, so that's okay. I was just trying to have a good time. I think if they were judging on who had the most fun, I would have won. [Laughs] I like telling stories. I like talking. I actually do a lot of live events, in person things. I cook but it's a lot more than that. I'm usually just telling stories and jokes and trying to make people laugh and stuff. I love it — I love comedy, but I'm not trying to be a comedian. I'm just trying to be a chef that's funny.

New this season are the groups, and it seems like they filmed more interactions between the singers for that. Did you actually film those or do they get doubles to do that?

There's a lot of green screen stuff that you do. They get everybody who's competing on that episode, they get us all together and we'd do these little [scenes] where we'd kind of mess with each other and goof around. [The show] is amazing. They're super efficient. It's crazy. That is the biggest, most insane production I've ever seen. It runs like clockwork. It's incredible. Like cooking shows are pretty simple, right? You got a kitchen full of people making food. You got some families, you got a sound guy — they're not a huge production. Seeing this thing put itself together — for me, just being a nerd of television — it was mind-bogglingly amazing. It was really cool.

Might we see McTerrier in cake form after this?

Maybe a cookie. I might do some sugar cookies with little terriers on them.

When you signed on for The Masked Singer, what did you hope to accomplish?

I think the one thing that I told myself was, "Don't be a jackass. Go out there, have a good time, but don't be a jackass. Don't screw it up." And I totally screwed it up! [Laughs] I don't know. I mean, honestly, I didn't have too many expectations. I just knew this was gonna be a lot of fun and I was gonna enjoy it, and then I did have a lot of fun. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I hope they ask me again, that would be hilarious. I don't think they do that. Once you've been on they don't let you come back.

You could come back as a panelist though, and get your chance to guess who is under the mask.

Oh man, I already have to send 10-year-olds home when they don't bake a good cookie [on Kids Baking Championship]. I don't think I want to send professional singers home because I'm like, "Oh, I don't know about your treble on the second verse there, it was a little off." You know what I mean? [Laughs]

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Related content:

• The complete list of clues for every The Masked Singer season 7 contestant

• Watch the hilarious moment a contestant's head comes off on The Masked Singer: 'What do I do?'

• Everything we know about The Masked Singer season 7