‘The Masked Singer’: The Hawk On Stumping The Judges & Fulfilling His “Calling” To Be Open About Mental Health

Katie Campione
·6-min read

SPOILER ALERT! Do not read this if you don’t want to know the identity of The Hawk, the latest contestant to be sent home from The Masked Singer on Fox.

The Hawk is already raring to return to The Masked Singer stage.

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The actor and musician’s time on the Fox series was a bit short-lived, as he was booted from competition after just two solo performances and one smackdown against Tiki. Ultimately, his journey came to an end on Wednesday despite rousing the audience with his rendition of “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” for Harry Potter night and putting his all into his verse of Lady Gaga’s “Monster.”

“I had a great experience,” The Hawk told Deadline. “I was a little sad when I got voted off, because I am very competitive. But once I once I let that go, I was like ‘I had so much fun.’ I’m happy to do it again. I want them to bring me back.”

Below, The Hawk (a.k.a. Tyler Posey from MTV’s Teen Wolf) talks with Deadline about taking The Masked Singer stage, opening up about his mental health, and managing to stump the judges.

DEADLINE: Had The Masked Singer been on your radar? How did you become The Hawk this season?

TYLER POSEY: They reached out, but it definitely was something that was on my radar. I just never really thought that it was going to happen. I’m really happy that it did, because it’s a lot of what I like to do, which is performing and giving something my all. I kind of forget that I’m at that level of status where I would be able to be a contestant on this show. I was very honored. I know the past contestants are people I idolize. So the fact that I could share that stage was really humbling and really sweet. I felt very flattered and excited and I’m like, ‘I’m your man. I’m gonna give this my absolute all and make all the producers so happy that you’ve chosen me.’

DEADLINE: The judges did say you looked like you were having more fun than anyone else on stage. What’s the key to letting loose and putting everything out there for your performances?

POSEY: I wanted to win. Honestly, I wanted to impress everybody. I wanted the fans to feel involved. I wanted them to feel like they were a part of my act. and I wanted the judges to have fun. My whole thing on whatever project I’m doing is that I want everybody on set — wherever I’m at, whether it’s on stage or on a film set — I just want everybody to be having fun…that’s just my mindset when I go into anything. So I think that also helped me just let loose on stage. I am kind of physical and goofy. [So] there’s a lot of elements as to why I acted the way on that way onstage. As much as those wings held me back, I really wanted to push it to the limit. And the wings were even broken by the end of it all.

DEADLINE: So, were the wings the most challenging part of the costume?

POSEY: I don’t know if it was. I think the most complicated part was the vision, not being able to see, and also the heat. Once [the wings] were on, I knew that they were there and I knew I had to look out for them. But the whole thing was kind of complicated, honestly, which is cool. That’s what I wanted. I wanted a challenge, and I wanted to push myself.

DEADLINE: I think any die hard Teen Wolf fans were able to guess your clues pretty easy, but they were really wide-ranging. They even included a nod to your first girlfriend, Miley Cyrus. What did you think about those clues?

POSEY: Like you said, I think you had to be a die hard fan in order to know who they were talking about. I thought the producers did a really good job at making the clues really personal but also super vague. You’d have to only know me to know these clues. I thought that it was easy for the judges to guess sort of inside of the box, like when the clip of Miley came up, and they guessed Cole Sprouse. They said that they’ve collabed on a TV show with each other. But we collaborated in a different way…the whole thing was they weren’t thinking outside the box enough. But I was still really impressed with their detective deducing [skills]. I was just like, ‘Wow, you guys are like incredible detectives.’ They still did a really great job of guessing. They got pretty close against people who were who were actors and musicians.

DEADLINE: They have definitely become very good at guessing contestants’ identities. I always think it’s fun, though, when they can’t figure it out. Did you expect them to be stumped by you?

POSEY: I went into it with no expectations. But also, when they offered me the show, I was like, ‘Really?’ I always forget my status, and then I walk out on the street and I’m being recognized every five feet. So I just forget that I’m in this celebrity world sometimes. So when they were getting the clues, I was thinking, ‘They’re not gonna guess me, because they don’t know who I am.’ So, I had no expectations.

DEADLINE: Did anyone else prematurely guess your identity?

POSEY: I saw fans at the actual taping, when I got unmasked the fans were screaming, ‘We knew it was you! We could tell by your voice.’ I was like, ‘Oh, that’s really flattering.’ It’s really cool that they recognize my voice.

DEADLINE: Your time on the show was a bit short-lived, but do you have a favorite performance?

POSEY: I really love Police and Elton John. I had been more familiar with the Police song. I don’t think I heard ‘Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting),’ the Elton John song, before I performed it. I love both of them. But I think it was the Lady Gaga smackdown, my last act, because went all out. I was like, ‘Okay, I have to win this. I’m like up against the ropes.’ And I really felt like I had to just outperform the Tiki.

DEADLINE: I enjoyed that arrangement of ‘Monster.’ It was a cool one.

POSEY: Exactly. That’s what I liked too, because they turned a lot of the songs for me into punk renditions, which I thought was so cool.

DEADLINE: One of the other clues this week was about losing your mom to cancer and your mental health journey after. You’ve spoken publicly about it before, but what drives you to continue to be open about such a traumatic time in your life?

POSEY: I think it’s one of the reasons that I’m here on Earth. Honestly, not to get too crazy and deep, but I really do think that I have this crazy calling inside of me that’s been there since I was a little kid, and that’s to help people or help the planet or humanity or something. It’s hard to articulate what it is exactly, but it’s there. And my intuition is telling me to be honest about all the experiences that I’ve been through, including losing my mother, and what it did to my mental health. Hopefully somebody could see it and relate to it and that I could help them. That’s really all it is. I’m not trying to like get any sort of clickbait or whatever, I just want to really be there for people and make people happy or have them view the topic from a different perspective. But yeah, it really comes down to me just following this calling I’ve had since I was like a little kid to help people, to help the world.

The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays on Fox at 8 p.m. ET/PT

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