The winner of The Masked Singer NZ Jason Kerrison has revealed he turned down offers from the show's producers twice before agreeing to compete.
Kerrison, who appeared on the show as the Tuatara, sang a rendition of Queen's 'Somebody to Love' for the competition's grand final before he took out the trophy.
He told The Project he is "proud" to have won the coveted title, however, he almost didn't appear on the show as he was "weirded out" by the premise - dressing up in an elaborate costume to compete in a nationally televised singing competition.
"I'm a serious songwriter, I'm a serious artist so I wasn't so sure about it. In fact I turned them down twice.
"I was like, 'it's not really me, it's a bit kooky'."
The former Opshop band member says he researched the show a little more and "decided to have some fun and enjoy it".
"I looked into it and I saw Chaka Khan had done it, Joss Stone had done it and I was like 'who am I?' So just go have some fun and enjoy it, and as soon as I'd decided that I just got into hyper-competitive mode. I enjoyed it though it was really fun."
As a "shy" and "serious" songwriter, he says his character Tuatara allowed him to "be really gregarious and out there".
He also revealed his fear judges Sharyn Casey and Ladi6 were on to him from as early on as week one.
"I was pretty convinced that Ladi6 and Sharyn had picked me almost week one, week two and I was out of there."
Kerrison says this encouraged him to be innovative with his performances: "I was singing the heck out of everything like completely oversinging everything. Having been a judge in the past on other things I was like 'they're just looking for that little bit extra'."
The win comes as Kerrison is set to drop a new single called 'The Timing' from his upcoming first solo album.
