Chris Daughtry on his second-place ‘Masked Singer’ finish: ‘I'm just not good at winning s***’

losing out to Wayne Brady’s Fox. " data-reactid="22">Poor Chris Daughtry can’t catch a break. Thirteen years ago, he went home in fourth place on American Idol — arguably the most shocking elimination in that series’ history. This fall, he returned to the same network, to avenge his defeat and hopefully complete his redemption story arc. But he ended up stalling in second place on The Masked Singer, with his Rottweiler losing out to Wayne Brady’s Fox. 

“I'm just not good at winning s***,” Daughtry chuckles. “That's my destiny. I'm a very solid runner-up. I'm so good at being the runner-up.”

Masked Singer finale, Chris “The Rottweiler” Daughtry is actually in great spirits — certainly better spirits than he was on that infamous Idol results night — joking that he “just wanted to make it past the top four this time” and stressing that he thinks Brady “did an incredible job” and “absolutely earned” that Golden Mask trophy. There is no shame in Daughtry’s Masked Singer game. However, he does admit, “The only thing that I think is going to bug me the most is I'm going to hear ‘You should’ve won!’ for another 10 years. That's what I've been hearing ever since Idol, and now I'm going to hear it again.”" data-reactid="24">Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment after the Masked Singer finale, Chris “The Rottweiler” Daughtry is actually in great spirits — certainly better spirits than he was on that infamous Idol results night — joking that he “just wanted to make it past the top four this time” and stressing that he thinks Brady “did an incredible job” and “absolutely earned” that Golden Mask trophy. There is no shame in Daughtry’s Masked Singer game. However, he does admit, “The only thing that I think is going to bug me the most is I'm going to hear ‘You should’ve won!’ for another 10 years. That's what I've been hearing ever since Idol, and now I'm going to hear it again.”

As someone who’s likely been trying to shake the reality-television stigma — which can be a particular hindrance in the rock world — for over a decade now, Daughtry took a potentially career-killing risk by dressing as a McGruff the Crime Dog lookalike and belting Hall & Oates and Sia songs on a silly costume competition. But he stresses, “I didn't think about that, not even a little bit. I wanted this experience so, so bad, and it felt so exciting to me.” 

Ryan Reynolds’s viral Unicorn performance from the Korean version of the series last year. And he says as soon as he learned that The Masked Singer would air in the States, “I was like, ‘Oh my God, absolutely. Get me on that show!’ I just loved the idea of being free and under the veil of anonymity and being able to perform whatever you want, however you want — without any kind of preconceived notions of who you are as an artist. It was that liberating experience that I was so attracted to, and I was elated that they wanted me on the show. I couldn't wait. I hadn't been this excited about an opportunity in a very long time.”" data-reactid="28">In fact, Daughtry had longed to be on The Masked Singer ever since he saw a YouTube clip of Ryan Reynolds’s viral Unicorn performance from the Korean version of the series last year. And he says as soon as he learned that The Masked Singer would air in the States, “I was like, ‘Oh my God, absolutely. Get me on that show!’ I just loved the idea of being free and under the veil of anonymity and being able to perform whatever you want, however you want — without any kind of preconceived notions of who you are as an artist. It was that liberating experience that I was so attracted to, and I was elated that they wanted me on the show. I couldn't wait. I hadn't been this excited about an opportunity in a very long time.”

Daughtry, a Comic-Con regular, was “definitely no stranger” to donning crazy costumes. And once he had a chance to pick out his TV character, he was inspired by both his love of comic books and a certain childhood trauma. “I was trying to find something that resonated with me, and very much like how Batman became Batman by facing his fears and becoming the thing he feared the most, I was in a similar situation with the Rottweiler,” he explains. “I was bitten by a Rottweiler when I was about 15, and it made me terrified of that particular breed of dog. So, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I'm going to embody my fear and become what I fear the most.’ Very much like Batman.”

Still, despite all his cosplay experience, Daughtry was in no way prepared for the unique challenges of performing week after week in a giant canine bobblehead. “It was the most difficult, difficult thing I've ever done in regards to performance, because everything you think you know how to do goes right out the window when you're covered up,” he laughs. “Your peripheral vision is shot. You can barely even see through the little screen that you do have. I was missing my marks onstage, like, ‘Where am I? Where's the camera?’ And it was so hot and I was gasping for breath, because it was almost like singing in a paper bag where you're recycling your own air. There was not one performance where by the time I got past the first chorus, I was not dying. Like, ‘How long is a minute and a half? This is ridiculous!’

“So, I just had to Zen out. You can't speak to anyone [backstage], you're not free to just roam around, so I was sitting in this costume observing my own thoughts, meditating, visualizing what I'm going to do out there, hoping I remember the choreography, hoping my voice doesn't take a total dump on me when I'm gasping for breath. It was very challenging — way, more challenging than I ever anticipated — but at the same time, it made it that much more worth it, and that much more gratifying when I got as far as I did.”