On Monday evening, with a dramatic pop of a robot helmet, one-time teen-pop sensation Cody Simpson became Australia’s first winner of TV singing show, The Masked Singer.
And to answer your first question, yes, Miley Cyrus knew the result.
Cody Simpson was named the winner of The Masked Singer.
"I just told her because I had to tell her I was coming down here to do press for the final," says Simpson, 22, of his fresh love interest, a pairing currently pored over by gossip columnists the world over. "She's not a stranger to the game-show scene; she was a judge on The Voice back in the day so it's all cool."
Network 10's weekly ratings-topper has been a phenomenon, earning around 1 million viewers per episode outside a mid-season lull; a triumphant feat in a TV landscape that's largely ignored newborn formats. Monday's finale saw almost 1.88 million viewers tune in nationally for the winner's reveal, with 1.37 million from the five metro cities.
To unload a secret taped about three months ago has been a relief, says Simpson, considering the notorious extent of 10's subterfuge.
Simpson in his robot costume.
"I was just escorted in and out of a garage of my hotel in a cloak, basically, for three weeks," Simpson recalls. "The only time I could get away with not having some hood or mask on was in my dressing room. It was fun though, it felt very secret service-y."
He credits the robot costume with carrying him over the winner's line against singer Rob Mills as the wolf and The Project's Gorgi Coghlan as the monster.
"Those guys wearing huge wings or the monster, they couldn't move at all. I was glad I chose a costume that was more mobile 'cause I was the only performer that asked to do the dancers' choreo, no one else was doing that. And I think that's part of the reason why I won, 'cause I just did some extra shit."
In more ways than one The Masked Singer is an oddity among TV singing shows, where the contestants' pay-off is generally a recording contract or at least "exposure". For an artist like Simpson – who eschewed a teen-pop career that pegged him as the "next Justin Bieber" and turned his back on a US deal with Atlantic Records in 2014 ("I kind of rebelled," says Simpson) – what is the appeal in marking his Australian return so anonymously?
"I thought it was a good way for me to show my face back Down Under, especially to go on a show where you're just being judged on your singing voice and not any other thing, like my age or my looks or what I'm wearing," says Simpson.
"It was cool to be able to bypass all those conceptions that people can have of someone like me. It's just, can he sing or can he not sing?"
Despite the fact his face only scored about 10 minutes of broadcast time after the reveal, it's fair to say Simpson's run on the show has reintroduced the singer to a hefty Australian audience; a fact he's keen to capitalise on. Next year he's due to release his first full-length album in four years, with solid plans to tour locally.
"That's basically kind of it," he says. "I'm working on the album and trying to get people psyched up for it… I don't know how to describe it, I just know it'll be really f–king cool."
It was cool to bypass conceptions people have of me. It's just, can he sing or can he not sing?
While the awkward transition from teen-pop phenomenon to mature artist has tripped up many a young star, Simpson – who also recently enjoyed a leading stint on Broadway in a production of Anastasia – is hopeful his run on The Masked Singer has laid its foundations.
"It's not me trying to escape from anything, you just grow up," he says. "Like, my voice is lower and so the music will be a bit more mature… But I can't have regrets about anything I've done, and this is just, like, the next phase for me, the next thing."
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