Darren Hayes finally said yes to Masked Singer as a ‘lovely distraction’ after marriage split

Pop stars Darren Hayes and Dami Im told their fans they would never do the Masked Singer. Here’s why they said yes.

Pop superstar Darren Hayes reneged on his declaration he would never join the Masked Singer as a “distraction” from grieving the end of his marriage and the financial pressures of reigniting his touring career.

Hayes, as the wildly popular Grim Reaper, was runner-up to winner Dami Im’s equally loved Snow Fox at the 2023 grand final this week.

After removing his mask, the Affirmation star revealed he’d had a “tough year” in the wake of releasing his comeback album Homosexual, mounting a world tour as an independent artist and his divorce from husband of 17 years Richard Cullen.

“I think if you look at that album and what I was singing about, I was making the decision to sort of move on by coming back to music,” he said.

“Like anything, it’s liberating at first because I think there was a part of me that was asleep for a long time and a part of me that was grieving for a long time but releasing a statement about a marriage ending is hard for someone like me who’s a private person.

Hayes was wildly popular with viewers as the Grim Reaper. Picture: Supplied / Network Ten.

So when the Masked Singer came up – and I’d said no so many times and to the UK version too – it was such a lovely distraction and something really humbling about doing it.”

Hayes returned home in June for the filming and visited with his beloved mum Judy under the guise of research for his upcoming memoir.

He felt “so evil” keeping the Masked Singer secret from his mother. But with contestants’ pay cheques reportedly worth up to $200,000 plus fees for each episode, he couldn’t take a chance on potential leaks.

“You sign an NDA [Non-Disclosure Agreement] and it’s not an insignificant amount of money that you get paid. So I didn’t want to lose the money,” he said.

“And I love my mum and she’s trustworthy, but she’s also proud and what if she told someone?”

The Dami Army got behind the Snow Fox suspecting it was their pop idol. Picture: Supplied / Network Ten.

Despite his fans taking to social media to protest Hayes was “robbed” of the 2023 crown, he insisted he knew Im would win because of her supreme vocal range and the popularity of her Snow Fox character.

Im, who had also protested she would never do the show despite the relentless lobbying from the Dami Army, won the Masked Singer title on the same stage she took out the X Factor a decade ago.

She said she agreed to take on the challenge after SBS shelved plans for a Eurovision: Australia Decides selection show.

Im had put her hat in the ring to have another shot at the title at the 2020 selection show but the network decided not to go ahead with the selection contest this year and chose Voyager to represent Australia.

And because after taking a brief time-out on her career last year after the birth of her son Harrison, it was “zero pressure.”

“All I said at the beginning was I just didn’t want to lose in the first week to a non-singer, like a comedian or somebody. That would be embarrassing,” she said.

Im said she owed a debt of gratitude to the fiercely loyal Dami Army who continue to support her records and tours and plans to release a new Christmas album next week.

Originally published as Darren Hayes finally said yes to Masked Singer as a ‘lovely distraction’ after marriage split