Boyz II Men Win Season 12 of The Masked Singer. Mario is Runner-Up
After 12 exciting weeks of show-stopping performances and fun competition, Boyz II Men, aka #Buffalo, were revealed as the season 12 winner of The Masked Singer.
The win marked the first time in the show's history that a group came out on top.
The trio, which consists of Nathan Morris, Wanyá Morris, and Shawn Stockman (and formerly Michael McCary), made it all the way to the December 18 Christmas-themed finale where they were up against fellow RnB singer Mario, aka #Wasp.
When asked why they decided to do the show, Nathan Morris said, "We got excited because when you're an artist for 30-something-odd years, people tend to try to put you in a hole of what you can do and what you can't do.
"So, we actually huddled up as we always do and said listen, we're gonna start these songs and slide this way and push them that way, try songs they ain't never heard us sing before, switch parts around and have people doing stuff they don't do, and then when the competition got stiff, we just had to turn the screws!"
During the finale, which opened with a rendition of Andy Williams' "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by 98 Degrees lead singer and season five winner Nick Lachey, Buffalo and Wasp were tasked with singing two numbers each (Wasp with Bruno Mars' "When I Was Your Man" followed by Whitney Houston's "I'm Your Baby Tonight" and Buffalo with Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" followed by an a capella ending of "Too Good At Goodbyes" by Sam Smith) before the audience and judges voted for their favorite.
Throughout the competition, which premiered Wednesday, September 25, Wasp and Buffalo beat out a ton of other celebrity masks in the likes of Nickelodeon star Drake Bell aka #IceKing; One Tree Hill star Jana Kramer aka #RoyalKnight; Disney star and one half of Aly & AJ, AJ Michalka aka #StrawberryShortcake; LA Rams defensive tackle Kobie Turner aka #Goo; baseball pitcher Bronson Arroyo aka #SherlockHound; actress Yvette Nicole Brown aka #Showbird; actress Marsai Martin aka #Woodpecker; singer Paula Cole aka #Ship; surfer Bethany Hamilton aka #Macaron; actress Laverne Cox aka #ChessPiece and more.
For Wasp, the judges made guesses from Jason Derulo, Daveed Diggs and Miguel, to Anthony Ramos, Usher and Maxwell. And for Buffalo, groups such as Blackstreet, Tony! Toni! Toné!, and in the words of Robin Thicke, "The rest of 98 Degrees," were on the roster.
But when the time came to unmask the runner-up, who was revealed to be Mario, the "You Should Let Me Love You" singer encouraged "young wasps" to trust their intuition.
"Your wings are like your intuition; trust them," he said. "Trust your intuition. Believe in yourself. When you feel like you don't have the answers, trust your intuition, they are your wings."
Not only was Buffalo's win historic as being the first group to become champions, but it was also legendary to have two Black, male RnB singers as the final two.
The "End of the Road" singers and Philadelphia natives, who recorded their first album Cooleyhighharmony (1991) at Motown Records, closed out the show with a performance of their first hit "Motownphilly", with Mario and even host Ken Jeong singing a few lines.
Season 13 of The Masked Singer premieres Wednesday, February 12, 2025 on FOX.
