You Guessed It - That Was Ben Lee On 'The Masked Singer' And He's Told Us All About It

Another season of The Masked Singer Australia is upon us and it seems that viewers haven't lost any of their detective skills, now correctly guessing Ben Lee as the man under the Professor mask. 

The multiple ARIA Award winner was revealed on the program last night after sharing his performance of Seal's 1994 hit Kiss From A Rose. 

There was speculation last week as to whether Lee was behind the disguise following a performance of Paul Kelly's Dumb Things, with fans noting everything from his distinctive tone to a film he starred in alongside Rose Byrne and more.  

"It's been a little bit surreal," Lee told The Music today when describing what his day had been like now the secret is out. 

"It’s not a normal day, just sitting around talking, you know, getting discovered underneath a disguise."

So, what is it like shedding your usual identity and performing on the show undercover? According to Lee it's "totally bizarre". 

"I mean, I really did it because it was bizarre, and especially after 30 years essentially in the music business," he explained, "I’m always looking to put myself in uncomfortable positions and I texted my friend Margaret Cho, the comic, when I got offered this and I just said ‘should I do this?’ Because she did it on the first season in the US and she said it’s like a ‘zen meditation practice for letting go of identity and control’ and I was like, awesome, let’s do it. And it is like that, it’s just totally bananas."

READ MORE: So Pretty Much Everyone Is Convinced That Ben Lee Is On 'The Masked Singer' This Year

It's become clear that the show works very, very hard to keep the contestants identities secret throughout the competition, so much so that even host Osher Günsberg finds out at the same time as everyone else. It's something Lee attests to. 

"The production handles the whole thing. It’s like a military exercise, I mean they have it done - like security, and being covered up," he said. 

"The only thing I really had to handle was keeping a secret from family and friends, which is actually, I’m a bit of a blabbermouth, that was actually pretty hard to do. 

"I didn’t get to keep it from the kids, I was going to, but then lockdown happened and we were all in the house together while I’m like practicing Kiss From A Rose 18 hours a day, so I was like, there’s going to be no way to explain this," he laughed. 

"So basically the hardest bit for me was keeping it a secret."

"On a totally practical level, doing a song like that, I just have never sung a song like that - a big power ballad - it’s just something I don’t normally do, but also just the way you move and everything. 

"You know, there’s an Oscar Wilde quote, ‘give a man a mask, he’ll show you the truth’, and it’s like that Eyes Wide Shut thing. You do feel somewhat liberated from the preconceptions around how you should behave when you’re in disguise."

The Masked Singer Australia is set to 10 tonight from 7.30pm. Ben Lee shares his new single, Born For This Bullshit, this Friday.