It all came down to the Gumball vs. the Goldfish on Wednesday's The Masked Singer Season 11 finale, and it turned out that they'd shared the screen together before, as co-stars in the 2009 cult musical movie Bandslam. And though they'd both been underestimated as vocalists during their long, up-and-down acting careers, by the time they made it to this moment — beating out stellar semifinalists like Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, Charlie Wilson, Thelma Houston, and SisQó — it was clear that this was the Goldfish's time to shine.
Goldfish won the judges' hearts after belting Blondie's "Heart of Glass" this week, taking the show straight to Studio 54 with her disco-diva tour de force. This fish was serving! The Goldfish then bowled everyone over and made an even bigger splash with Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." Rita Ora raved, "Week after week, you have delivered, queen! ... You have swum your way to the finals, as you should."
And then Goldfish continued her recent "journey of self-discovery" by swimming all the way to the winner's circle, as I'd long predicted. And she was revealed, as I'd long guessed, to be all-grown-up High School Musical starlet Vanessa Hudgens. While Vanessa confessed that she'd always considered herself an "actress first," during her Masked Singer run she re-established herself as a triple-threat (she had some killer, or gill-er, dance moves as well).
"This experience has been so incredible and so special for me," the Goldfish burbled happily. "And it really surprised me, because not everybody knows what I actually do. And the fact that you guys have all seen me — like, truly seen me — for what I love doing really lights a fire under my little fishtail! Thank you, guys, so much. It means world to me."
As for the Gumball, who Robin called "the survivor of Season 11," he turned out to be, as I'd long guessed, Friday Night Lights/Hart of Dixie actor Scott Porter. Many people, including the judges, had no idea that this guy could belt like he did on Styx's "Renegade," a performance Ken Jeong called "perfect from beginning to end — or that he could beatbox, like he did on his cover of Disclosure and Sam Smith "Latch." The judges thought this might be Jamie Dornan, Taran Killam, James Marsden, Jason Sudekis, Derek Hough, Kevin Jonas, Zachary Levi, James Van Der Beek, Chayce Crawford, Jack Black, or Joseph Gordon Levitt, but no one guessed it was Scott.
"Who knew you could do what you do?" host Nick Cannon gasped. "This man does it all!"
In the end, this show gave the Gumball an opportunity to feel "like a kid in a candy store," doing something he had always loved. "I've been on TV for almost two decades, almost nonstop, and yet being here, I feel I've finally gotten to show who I am really am," Scott declared.
Gumball also sweetly (no pun intended, this time) dedicated his rockin' final performance to his parents, who'd been in a rock band but worked "40 to 60 hours a week" to pay the bills, saying: "I realize now why it was so special to them, because I know tomorrow I go back to my day job. This has been the time of my life, and I'm so thankful and grateful to have been on this stage."
So, now the Goldfish has won her Golden Mask, and now temporary judge Rita, who was filling in for Nicole Scherzinger in some sort of Masked Singer cultural-exchange program while Nicole was in London starring in a West End production of Sunset Boulevard, will return to her seat on the Masked Singer U.K. panel across the pond. "Another reason why this season is so amazing is the beautiful most incredible, talented, loving, amazing Rita Ora," gushed Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg.
Rita then said through tears, as he hugged her Stateside castmates, "I want to quickly say that this has been the most incredible experience I've had. Thank you for being so welcoming to me on this show. ... I will never forget this experience!"
AH WHAT A FINALE THAT WAS! Thanks so much for watching it with me. I hope you enjoyed this season as much as I did! 🥹💋 Until next time… #TheMaskedSinger pic.twitter.com/cp1DfAvdSH
— Rita Ora (@RitaOra) May 23, 2024
Rita will be missed, but maybe Anglophilic reality-watchers can get crafty with a VPN connection get past ITV's geoblocking, and watch her try to suss out the identities of various EastEnders actors, morning telly presenters, rugby players, and B-list Britpoppers on the U.K. version of this series. In the meantime, The Masked Singer U.S. will return with Nicole in the fall. See you then.
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