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Who was Nessy on 'The Masked Singer'? Turns out, he's an iconic '90s singer whom judges never expected

"I can’t wait for them to be like, ‘What?’" he said. "I had such a good time; thank you for having me," he added. 

The adorable Loch Ness monster, a.k.a. 'Nessy,' was shockingly eliminated on 'The Masked Singer' last week right before entering the semi-finals. Fans and judges remained stunned when the real identity of Nessy was revealed as yesteryear's famed songwriter and guitarist Edwin Cole McCain. McCain particularly gained popularity from his singles 'I'll Be' (1997) and 'I Could Not Ask for More' (1999), a soundtrack from the movie 'Message in a Bottle.' The Billboard 200 hitmaker revealed that his children still didn't know he was part of the reality show, as per Fox News. "I can’t wait for them to be like, ‘What?’" he said. "I had such a good time; thank you for having me," he added. 

McCain's electrifying rendition of Lady Gaga's 'Million Reasons' turned him into an absolute fan favorite in the competition, numerous of whom were heartbroken to see Nessy go and demanded that he deserved a spot among the top 4, as per Soap Central. "Poor Nessy. I wanted you to go all the way!" a viewer commented under the YouTube video. "Edwin needs to do a cover of all the songs he did on The Masked Singer. You did an amazing job, Edwin. I would love to see their reaction," a fan gushed. "There is absolutely no way that Nessy is leaving and Pearl is still there," an X user regretted. "Nessy, we don’t want you to go!" another fan lamented. 

“Honestly, I’ve done so many different things in my career, like we’ve landed on an aircraft carrier off the coast of Korea and played for the sailors on board,” McCain exclusively told Variety, the reason behind his entertaining act on season 13. “We’ve been to Djibouti, Africa, and Bahrain, and we’ve played every state in the US, except for Alaska. If life is an adventure, this certainly falls in that category. I was like, of course, I’ll do that.” The legendary songwriter revealed that it was challenging to perform with the costume, but the crew provided him "a vest that had ice packs all over it, which made the 10,000 degrees manageable." 

“All the staff, all the customers, and everybody that will work on the program were absolute aces. It was way more comfortable than playing a festival gig in Alabama in August," he lauded the crew. McCain confessed that most of the new generation songs he performed were absolutely unknown to him. “I might sing that Lady Gaga song,” he said. “That’s a really great song.” The judges were left divided by his identity, and only Robin Thicke could get it right. Meanwhile, Rita Ora guessed Nessy to be Dave Matthews, and Ken Jeong believed it to be John Popper from Blues Traveler. And Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg thought that it was Johnny Rzeznik from Goo Goo Dolls.

The 'Letter to My Mother' singer stated that he did his best to sing each song uniquely on 'The Masked Singer' but was nevertheless surprised by Thicke's accurate guess. “I didn’t figure Robin would know anything about me, honestly,” McCain admitted, astonished. “To be fair, he is a student of music, so he does know. And obviously, being in the position he’s in, he’s heard a lot of stuff over the years." Apart from his renewed fame, McCain is celebrating the release of his 11th solo album, 'Lucky.'