The Masked Singer’s Ne-Yo reveals his four-year-old son was the only one in his family to guess he was Badger

14 February 2021, 15:58 | Updated: 14 February 2021, 16:14

The Masked Singer runner-up Ne-Yo reveals his four-year-old son guessed he was Badger

By Polly Foreman

Badger was finally unmasked as Ne-Yo in The Masked Singer's final last night.

The second series of The Masked Singer sadly came to an end last night, and Sausage was crowned winner after a tense sing-off with Badger and Robin.

After a dramatic reveal, it was Joss Stone behind the mask - leaving viewers and the judging panel, many of whom were convinced it was Sheridan Smith, absolutely speechless.

A whopping 10.5 million people tuned into the final last night, which also saw runner-up Badger be unmasked as Ne-Yo and Aston Merrygold come in third place as Robin.

Ne-Yo, the US singer behind hits songs like Closer and Because of You, did an incredible job of hiding his identity throughout the show - even putting on a variety of different English accents in his VTs.

Badger's identity was a source of considerable debate throughout, with Ne-Yo only becoming a front-running guess towards the end when viewers recognised his distinctive singing voice.

Earlier today, Mark Wright caught up with the singer on Heart's Feel Good Weekend - and he revealed his four-year-old son Shaffer was the only one in his family that guessed it was him.

He said: "My wife knew. The rest of my family I kept it from because I thought it would be cool to see if they would actually know it was me.

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"And the only person that caught it was my four-year-old son, he said: 'that bear sounds like daddy'.

"My mum actually called me, she was watching with the kids, and said: 'Shaffer actually caught you!'. My oldest children are 10 and nine, I thought it would be them - but no!"

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Speaking about his decision to go on the show, Ne-Yo said: "Any opportunity for me to step outside of me for a bit, I’m in.

"I’ve developed a love for acting and doing things outside the typical Ne-Yo brand, so I figured I might have a shot because people might think that I wouldn’t do the show.

"Hey, it’s a huge show - so many people watch it, why would I not? I had a ball, I had an absolute ball. Once they showed me the costume, I was like 'I’m in. I’m in 100 per cent'."

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