Gumball on “The Masked Singer” revealed as a “Friday Night Lights” alum

He pitches which of his shows should be rebooted — and which shouldn't — which of the other celebrities' identities he guessed, and why he should be a panelist.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Masked Singer season 11, episode 13, "Finale: One Mask Takes It All."

After a season of truly epic performances, Gumball popped his last bubble on The Masked Singer stage Wednesday night, ultimately being crowned runner-up to Goldfish.

After giving it his all with performances of “Latch” by Disclosure ft. Sam Smith and “Renegade” by Styx, it was finally his time to unmask, and the panel's guesses were frustratingly bad — for one of them, anyways. Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg and Robin Thicke piggybacked off each other by choosing Derek Hough, Ken Jeong kept his earlier guess of Taran Killam, but Rita Ora will surely be kicking herself for a long, long time with her pick. Earlier in the episode, she named Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch, but at the last minute opted to guess Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Related: The Masked Singer winner Goldfish avoided friend and judge Rita Ora: 'There goes our dinner plans'

Ultimately it was Scott Porter — star of hit TV shows such as Friday Night Lights, Ginny & Georgia, Hart of Dixie, and more — behind the colorful candy mask. Before the big reveal, Entertainment Weekly spoke with Porter, who candidly pitched which of his shows he wants to see get rebooted — and which he doesn't think should — and revealed which of the other masked celebrities' identities he guessed right away, thus making the case for why he should be a panelist in the future.

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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: In the finale, you expressed interest in keeping "this thing" going after Masked Singer. What did you mean by that?

SCOTT PORTER: I just meant that I want to continue to perform overall. I think I stepped away from it for a long time trying to fit in the boxes that Hollywood wants to put you in on occasion. And I found myself a couple of years ago — I started doing smaller just theater shows in Los Angeles. I did a parody of I Know What You Did Last Summer, a musical, and then I did The Last Five Years. And I've been performing with a band on occasion in LA and through that all, I was getting some confidence back as a performer, but jumping into Masked Singer was a whole different animal, and I wasn't sure if I still had it. But through every week, almost being eliminated twice, having to sing Whitney Houston and Cher and the Battle Royales and continuing to win, I think I realized that maybe I still do belong on a stage here or there. So I would love to see what opportunities come up next. I'm not saying I'm immediately going to go try and record an album. I don't know if that's in the cards or not, but I think now I'm equipped with confidence again that, hey, this is something I could do. And the Masked Singer gave me that. So I'm very thankful for them having me on, and the reception for Gumball has been incredible and humbling and wonderful all at the same time.

Related: Breaking down all of The Masked Singer season 11 clues

My personal, wild conspiracy theory is that you got put in the Smackdowns and Battle Royales so we could get more performances out of you.

And I will take that. I have said it before and I'll say it again. Jenny [McCarthy-Wahlberg] said, "Gumball wants to win this thing," I think during the OneRepublic performance. It wasn't so much that as I just didn't want to go home because going home meant I didn't get to sing anymore. And making it to the finale, quite honestly, was enough for me because I got to sing every single song I could. And as you just said, two Smackdowns, two Battle Royales. I sang everything I could on the show. "Throw me in the Smackdown again. I'll do another song. Yeah, sure. Let's go. Bring it on. I'm having too much fun to say no." So if that's what got me there, I don't care. Bring it on.

The panel got so close to guessing you a few times, with guesses of your Friday Night Lights costars. Have you heard from any costars that maybe did guess you?

No, not really. No former costars or anything reached out to me, but the person that I was really scared was going to guess who I was, was actually Nick Cannon. I was coaching his son's baseball team throughout the entire time I was on the Masked Singer. So I would see him on a Saturday or a Sunday morning as the coach of his son's baseball team. He would be there watching his son play baseball, and I'd be trying to be very careful not to speak too much [on the show], because he can hear my real voice when he's standing there next to me through my mask. And I don't know if it made it to air, but one of the judges said, "You can really do anything. You can dance, you can sing, you can act." And then Nick said, "And he coaches my son's baseball team. You're not wrong — he really does do it all." So that was something that I was nervous was going to happen, that he was going to figure me out.

Related: The most shocking Masked Singer reveals ever

But besides that, I had zero expectation that the judges were ever going to know who I was. I'm not the level of celebrity of a lot of different people that have performed on The Masked Singer. I have made a career out of "being the guy from that show." I'm a part of some of your favorite shows, but you might not know who I am. I'm a part of Friday Night Lights, but you're going to remember Taylor Kitsch, right? I'm a part of Hart of Dixie, but you're going to remember Rachel Bilson or Wilson Bethel, and I'm happy with it being that way, and I wear them not being able to guess who I was as a badge of honor at the end of this whole thing.

You're currently in production on Ginny & Georgia season 3, what can you tease for us about that and how is your character, Paul, doing after that shocking season 2 finale?

All I can say is, how would you be doing if your wife got arrested at your wedding? [Laughs.] I think everybody needs to ask themselves that question and then maybe say, "Okay, maybe I already kind of know how Paul is feeling right now." [Laughs.] We are a couple weeks into season 3, we haven't gotten too far down the road, and things are already incredibly surprising. So I can't wait to see what is in store for Paul the rest of the way in season 3.

In the age of reboots, sequels, reunions, and revivals, I have to ask, are there any plans for anything related to Friday Night Lights?

Friday Night Lights ended in such a way that I think everybody who worked on that series was incredibly happy and satisfied, and we had a real sense of accomplishment. We were fortunate, in the day and age of shows getting canceled too early all the time, to have gotten three season pickups for season 3, 4, and 5. So [creator] Peter Berg, the rest of the writers, all of the actors, we knew we had 39 episodes to tell the rest of the story, and we did it. And I feel like they landed it in such a special way. If there's ever another Friday Night Lights, I don't think it'll be with the cast or the crew that was a part of that particular run. I think it could live on 100 percent, especially if you had the right pieces in place, but there's no plans of it. I know there's always rumors of it, but nothing that I've heard.

The show that I think would be a more likely reboot would be Hart of Dixie. I think all of us actors would love to go back to Bluebell for a little bit and sing and dance and just have fun. I wish TV had more shows like Hart of Dixie where you could go and just spend an hour without the pressures of the world and truly escape into a place that's just fun and light and supportive.

So who knows if any of those shows ever come back. But I feel like both of those shows that I was a part of had perfect instincts, and I kind of feel like The Masked Singer did, too, for me this season. It happened that the Masked trophy is a little bit too much pressure, but having the chance to sing everything that I wanted to and see a good friend like Vanessa [Hudgens] win the whole thing was pretty awesome.

Related: The Masked Singer season 11 reveals: See every star under the mask

Maybe you can come back as a panelist or guest performer. They do that sort of thing all the time on the show.

Listen, here's my chance: I should be a judge, because I guessed everyone in my group from day one.

Really?

They put you backstage in an area corded off from everybody else, but we can still hear the performances. So I don't see anybody when I'm backstage as Gumball, but I can hear everybody. I knew Corey Feldman from the very moment he opened his mouth. I knew Clay [Aiken] and Ruben [Studdard] the very moment they opened their mouths. It took me a song to figure out who Jenifer [Lewis] was, but I figured her out. The only person who stumped me was Chrissy Metz, but I knew Vanessa from the get-go having done a film with her. I've been all over the place in my 20-plus years in this business. I know a lot voices. So yeah, I'd love to pop back in and do a little guest judging. I think I'm well suited for it.

That is the first time someone has admitted that to me in one of these interviews.

If I'm going to be a part of the show, I'm going to play the game. I was all over it. But, it was an honor, and I've got to say thank you to the show for allowing me to do something special like this. I'll keep it with me for a long time, and thank you for chatting with me about it.

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