Spoilers for The Masked Singer lie ahead.
Season 5 of The Masked Singer is shaping up to be the best and the weirdest so far. The Orca’s entrance in the Fox series shook up the competition in a terrific way. So their elimination this week has both sad and surprising for viewers, but the reveal of the Orca being Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath was worth it. After his elimination, the rockstar expressed why he was actually excited excited about his aquatic costume.
Mark McGrath’s time as the Orca was one of the best things to happen during this season of The Masked Singer, as he was a highlight on the Fox series every week. But apparently, the Sugar Ray frontman loved being the Orca as much as viewers loved watching him. McGrath said about seeing the costume for the first time:
Obviously when you hear you're gonna be on the show, you're like, "Oh my god, what is my costume?" You have some anxiety about it. The first thing they showed me was Orca. And my heart just went, "Yes." Because I'm a Pisces, you know? I grew up in Newport Beach, California. I feel comfortable around the ocean. Yes, that's one hurdle down.
Mark McGrath’s love for his home state and his status as a Pisces made his connection to the Orca even more special. Those personal touches helped the rocker to find comfort in doing the singing competition, which in turn made his final performance on The Masked Singer that much more powerful and meaningful. However, it's hard to deny that the knowledge of McGrath’s connection to the Orca makes his surprise elimination even more heartbreaking.
In his Entertainment Weekly interview, Mark McGrath revealed his connection to the costume went beyond just astrological signs and California, though. It sounds like the rocker felt linked to the mask on deep and "bizarre" level:
In fact, I also felt an emotional connection to Orca. When I took his head off for the last time, I felt sad because I was like essentially killing Orca. He was this living, breathing thing and now he's gonna be a set piece thing that doesn't live anymore, and I felt like I let it down. You get really close to the mask. It's bizarre.
Mark McGrath’s are both revealing and a bit unusual but, given how much time he spent being the Orca, he was bound to gain some attachment to the costume. It really drives home his connection to the ocean and love for, and he has shown that love, for both humans and sea creatures, in a time where compassion is can sometimes be lacking.
Just when you thought Mark McGrath’s time on The Masked Singer even better, we learn this information. With the singer's strong performance on the show, the personal connection he had is on the icing on the cake. It's sad that McGrath has been eliminated, but there are still more fantastic singers left to root for, including the soulful Black Swan, the crooning Piglet and the big-voiced Seashell.
You can watch new episodes of The Masked Singer on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.
