Hayley Orrantia is The Masked Singer season 7 runner-up, but the actress admitted she wishes she would have come in first place. Hayley competed as Ringmaster on the show, and her vocals were so powerful she nearly brought panelist Nicole Scherzinger to tears. During her debut performance, she sang a rendition of "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus and even had a hint toward the singer in her clue package, which led the panelists to believe she may be a Disney alum. Nicole originally guessed "Driver's License" singer Olivia Rodrigo may be behind the costume, while Ken Jeong had another outrageous guess, insisting pop superstar Taylor Swift was on the show.
However, the panelists later changed their guesses, with Ken settling on the more realistic guess of Hailee Steinfeld and Nicole thinking it could be Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale. Ringmaster's clue package included a video of hail falling, which inspired Ken and Nicole's guesses. However, it seems it pointed to the actress' first name. The contestant also had some hints towards her role on The Goldbergs as well as her home state of Texas. None of the panelists were able to correctly guess Hayley's identity, but the star did explain that she met Nicole years ago on The X Factor, which she hinted at earlier in the season.
Contestant Hayley did a great job on the show and made it very far, but despite her success on The Masked Singer, she still would have liked to win. The actress told EW that she still felt some disappointment when Firefly's name was called instead of hers during the finale. When asked about being disappointed, Hayley admitted, "Yes, in a way, it would be really incredible to say I won The Masked Singer and take home the trophy. But at the same time, I'm just genuinely so grateful to have been on the same stage as some of these people who I've looked up to growing up." The star explained that she was honored to be asked to appear on The Masked Singer, and there are so many incredible things she can take away from the experience.
Hayley also revealed that she watched the show weekly in her living room and had no idea who the other contestants were; that's how private The Masked Singer keeps things. There was also another reason Hayley was disappointed, which didn't involve her at all. The contestant believes Jennifer Holliday, who performed as Miss Teddy, should have won the competition or at least made it to the finale. Hayley also said she hopes to focus more on her music career and has plans to release more of her songs in the future.
While Hayley would have loved to take home The Masked Singer trophy, it doesn't seem like the actress took the loss too hard. It's great to see how appreciative she is of the experience and the opportunity to show off her vocals. Hopefully, her reveal will help boost her music career and show the world how much she's capable of. While she wasn't the first-place winner, Ringmaster remains a fan-favorite and one of the best vocalists The Masked Singer has seen.
Source: EW