‘The Masked Singer’s Yeti Reveals the Michael Jackson Song He Almost Performed

The Masked Singer Season 5 Yeti Performance Semifinals
Spoiler Alert
Michael Becker/FOX

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 5 Episode 12, “Semifinals.”]

And then there were only three.

The Masked Singer Season 5 sent home one final contestant in the May 19 episode with the Top 3 advancing to the finals. While Black Swan, Piglet, and Chameleon are moving on, the mystery of the Yeti is solved, and under the mask is singer-songwriter and actor Omarion.

“My aunt is an avid TV watcher,” Omarion tells TV Insider. “I don’t really have time to watch TV so much. And after T-Pain won [Season 1 of Masked Singer], my aunt said, ‘I have a new show. I love this show.’ I checked it out and I saw that artists, non-artists, creative people get to play dress up and become a character.” Then he learned that his good friend, Bow Wow (who came in third as Frog in Season 3) was on the Fox hit as well.

“I’ve never been one to shy from anything new,” the former B2K member continues. “Small little things played a factor but I would say mainly because it’s such an interesting concept.”

Omarion takes us inside his Masked Singer experience.

Talk about coming in as a wildcard.

Omarion: I didn’t really know what to expect. It was little to no prep time. It was just, “Hey, are you ready? Want to try this one? What songs do you want to do? Let’s go.” I don’t know that people think about all of the things that go into doing live performances for performers. But one of those things is there’s a lot of different elements that come into play particularly with a show like this, that you just have to really be confident in your ability to perform and just be like, “OK, I’m gonna give my best.”

And there’s also adjusting to the costume of the Yeti.

I had some of my own ideas as far as what characters I wouldn’t play or how they would look, are they adorable. Because I came in as a wildcard, it wasn’t like there was a lot of different options. When I was introduced to the Yeti and I tried it on, I thought, “Wow, this is exciting and interesting and nerve-wracking,” because I had the heaviest suit out of all of the performers. From the outside looking in, it might look easy, but this is a 60-pound suit. I was curious how it was going to work out, even for myself.

But I thought that it was cleverly linked to me. A Yeti, once I did my research, is a myth that exists, but doesn’t exist. I started to fall in strong like with the character in comparison to myself. Also, I have the song “Ice Box,” which is one of my biggest hits. I don’t go out too much, the Yeti is not seen so much. I felt like he was very similar to me. So I thought, “This character is kind of aligning with some of my shadow selves.” When I looked at the costume, I was like, “I have to do this. This is dope.”

How did that rollerblading ballad come about?

One of the questions that they asked was, do you have any hidden talents? Some people always feel like hidden talents are weird, but actually, as a child, I used to be a professional rollerblader. There was this time when roller skating was very popular. I considered that a sort of a hidden talent. And I also knew that no one was willing to put on rollerblades and skate on stage, which made for an epic performance.

Which of the panelists had you thought would guess you?

I was really surprised that Robin Thicke was so spot-on because the few interactions that we had over our lengthy careers, it’s always been kind of a touch and go or we see each other in passing or at the studio or something like that. So a lot of the things that he was saying I was just like, “Wow, he really can recognize my energy signature with this big old suit on.” I also was surprised that Ken [Jeong] had so many kind things to say about me as a performer. I could tell that it was hitting him for the first time. I never really got a chance to meet him. So it was cool to see that effect that the Yeti was having and it had nothing to do with me. Of course, I’m inside, but I was surprised at all of the compliments that he was giving me.

The Masked Singer Season 5 Yeti Performance Spicy 6

Michael Becker/FOX

Are there any songs you wish you’d gotten the chance to perform?

I actually was gonna do Michael Jackson, “PYT.” That is one of the songs that I wish I was able to perform because it’s such a classic and Michael Jackson is the number one inspiration to me as a performer. I wish I would have been able to perform that one because the choreography — and the performance — was really dope.

What are you going to take away from the entire experience of The Masked Singer?

Being a performer at a very young age in this industry all the way to this moment, as a performer, you have to continue to explore things. You have to continue to try new things. This was the first time that I performed other people’s songs, which felt kind of like a bit of karaoke, but maybe on a serious note.

The Masked Singer, Wednesdays, 8/7c, Fox