Holley Rey takes ‘The Masked Singer SA’ trophy as Sweet Lollipop wins first season

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The first season of ‘The Masked Singer South Africa’ was quite the adventure ride, filled with lots of surprises each week, every time a contestant was unmasked.

The season finale proved to be nothing short of amazing with the final contestants battling it out for the trophy and bragging rights of being the first winner of the local edition of the show.

Lollipop was crowned the first queen of ‘The Masked Singer South Africa’ stage.

The disguised celebrity taking Lollipop to the top and keeping her identity intact until the end was multi-platinum singer, songwriter and SAMA winner Holly Rey.

Rey clinched the coveted Golden Mask Trophy when Lollipop crushed the statuesque romantic hero Rhino in the show’s epic smackdown.

In this battle of note, the two costumed contenders performed a duet of Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’.

The show started with two face-offs during which the remaining four costumed contenders had to secure their spot in the smackdown. First, Lollipop eliminated Lion, where after Rhino chopped down Tree.

When Lion took off his mane, the king of the jungle was unmasked as award-winning actor Abdul Khoza.

Then, Tree turned out to be the suave, multifaceted entertainer and business mogul Maps Maponyane.

The riddle of the Rhino, which gave the show’s four celebrity detectives sleepless nights, was also finally solved.

‘The Masked Singer South Africa’s’ runner-up, Rhino, was Afrikaans music superstar Kurt Darren.

This is certainly Rey’s winning season. Just this month she won a Basadi in Music Award for Pop Artist of the Year, has new music out and is the host of a new baking show, ‘Baking with The Reys’.

Rey shared with IOL Entertainment that being on the show was the best experience.

“I had so much fun. It was also very challenging, the mask was so heavy, so hot. They even had to put in a little fan inside the mask for me.

“I broke my toe half way through shooting, so it was really hard to perform but the team at Rose and Oaks and ‘The Masked Singer’ were incredible.

“I was really grateful for the experience. I felt like a kid the entire time – it was like reliving my childhood and it was just the best experience.”

Executive producer Anele Mdoda reflected on the season and said that she was relieved it was done.

“I just wanted as many South Africans to watch it because I think it’s such a feel good story for the country. But there were stressful moments where I’d be like I need more people watching,” Mdoda told IOL Entertainment.

Mdoda sang nothing but praises for SABC which broadcasted the show on two channels, S3 and SABC 1.

She explained that these are the shows that help change the public narrative around the public broadcaster.

“We are so used to dissing them that we do not see how much money they are putting into local productions everyday.

“That’s why I’m loud about them, it’s fine others can be loud about the negatives, I will be loud about the positives, not that I’m dismissing their faults.”