Season 9 finale The masked singer saw Ara and Medusa go head-to-head as they sang for first-place bragging rights—and the Golden Mask trophy—in what turned out to be an emotional final showdown.

In the end, everyone’s favorite snake queen took home the top honors, but finding out the winner was only part of the big event.

An even bigger revelation of the night came when the fans found out who they were rooting for under those masks.

As runner-up, Macaw was the first to share his true identity after delivering two of his strongest performances of the season with James Bay’s “Hold Back the River” and Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself.” But as he hinted early in the evening, he’s no stranger to missing a win.

“If I win, it means that I really do I can win something,” the birder said with a giggle before taking the stage Wednesday night.

When his second song ended, Macaw broke down in tears while still in his mask, saying, “I had a lot of anxiety before I came to the show because I was afraid to show myself.”

But he showed up after panelists Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong and Nicole Scherzinger offered a wide range of guesses as to who he could be – including Elijah Wood, Zayn Malik, Doug Robb, Macaulay Culkin, Ryan Gaber, Darren Criss, Daniel Bedingfield and Gavin Degraw.

Of course, there was another name that Scherzinger mentioned in recent weeks, American IdolSeason 7 runner-up David Archuleta, and that’s who was behind the feathers.

The tears flowed again after the reveal – and not just from the 32-year-old singer. Judge Jeong also cried over his relationship with Archuleta.

“Real talk,” the twins’ father began. “When my wife was on her hospital bed, not knowing if our children would live or die, we would watch Idol every week and you were like a ray of light to my family. It is an honor to see you in this capacity. Thank God for you and I love you.”

And that wasn’t the last emotional moment of the night.

Medusa, who performed Sia’s “Elastic Heart” before following up with her rendition of My Chemical Romance’s emo anthem, “Welcome to the Black Parade,” ended up in tears after the latter song, for a deeply personal reason. It was her sister’s favorite song and, as she explained, “Unfortunately, she’s not here anymore.”

That tragic detail narrowed down the judges’ guesses.

They suspected she could be Ellie Goulding, Lorde, Kesha, Halsey, Shirley Manson, Susan Boyle, Fergie, Grimes or Bishop Brigg. But only that last assumption fits in this regard Briggs lost her sisterKate, in 2021, after a battle with cancer.

And when the performer threw the snakes, that’s exactly what stood on the stage as the winner Season 9 of The masked singer.

“Oh my god! This is the craziest, coolest thing ever,” the 30-year-old singer-songwriter said after learning she had won the Golden Mask trophy.

Briggs then aptly called the entire competition a “surreal journey” that she was grateful for.