Warning: This article contains spoilers from the Nov. 20 episode of The Masked Singer.
Ice King came in like a wrecking ball on The Masked Singer’s Miley Cyrus Night, but it didn’t end up being a party in the U.S.A. for him.
Drake Bell unmasked as Ice King on the Nov. 20 episode after going up against Royal Knight, Sherlock Hound and Strawberry Shortcake.
“I'm very competitive, but for this, you can't really be that hard on yourself because you're taken so out of your element,” Bell, 38, tells PEOPLE. “You’re singing songs you've never sang before, you're in this costume, I'm not a dancer, so you can't really beat yourself.”
The former child actor, who released his latest album Non-Stop Flight last month, participated in Mexico’s edition of The Masked Singer as Bebé Alien and he hoped to go further on the American version. “Unfortunately, I got to the same exact point,” he says.
In a conversation with PEOPLE, Bell reflects on the surprising comfort of the Ice King costume, moving forward following the abuse he endured during his Nickelodeon days and the unexpected moment that resulted from being eliminated on Miley Cyrus Night.
What made you want to go on The Masked Singer’s U.S. version after competing on the show in Mexico?
DRAKE BELL: I had a blast doing The Masked Singer Mexico, so when the American version reached out I was like, “Oh yeah, absolutely. I would love to do this again and try and get a little further."
Did doing The Masked Singer Mexico mean you were accustomed to performing inside the costume this time around?
It did give me a little leg up of being prepared to sing in the costume. My costume was great in Mexico, but the American costume, even though it looks like it's so cumbersome and hard to move, when I put the mask on, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it's so light and I can move around.’ The costume designers are absolute geniuses on this version, so I think it looks a little bit more difficult to move around in the costumes than it really is.
Who in your life knew you were doing the show?
My team, management and stuff. Maybe my mom and dad, but the thing about telling Mom and Dad is they get so excited, and then all of a sudden you go on their Facebook and you're like, "Mom!" So I actually don't think I told my mom and dad because of that reason.
But my dad is a huge fan of the show, even before I did The Masked Singer in Mexico. My dad's not the kind of person you think would be a fan of a singing competition show, especially as fun as and different as The Masked Singer, but I would get these text messages from him out of nowhere, "I had no idea, But Wayne Brady was the…" and I'm like, "Oh, on the The Masked Singer?" Because he just named the character as if I was watching the show along with him. I'm just imagining my big tough dad sitting at home and watching this funny singing competition. But he's watched, I think, every season from the beginning. He's a huge fan.
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What do you enjoy about performing anonymously?
You're not self-conscious. If I didn't have the mask on and I'm singing these songs that I learned last night and choreography I learned yesterday, I would be like, "Am I doing this right? I don't know." But to put the mask on, you lose yourself in the character. You get to go, "I'm just going to go out and have fun.” It's a really freeing experience.
Were there any songs that you would've liked to sing had you continued in the competition?
I would've loved to do things more in my wheelhouse. Elvis, for example, would've been a great one to do. The Ice King doing a song by The King would've been really cool.
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