Universal star and Super Junior member Kim Heechul managed to pull one of the biggest surprises in King of the Masked Singer when he was revealed as the masked singer behind Generation X.
In the February 16th episode of the show, Generation X lost to Brachiosaurus after winning two rounds of the show with two completely different performances, Soompi reported.
Generation X wowed the crowd with his rendition of Seo Taeji and the Boys' I Know. However, it was Brachiosaurus who advanced to the final round to go up against Sonorous 18, the four-time champion on the show.
Panelists and audiences were visibly shocked when Kim Heechul removed his mask and showed his face on stage. The panelists admitted that they had no idea who he was because they originally thought he was a singer for a heavy metal band because of his voice. They were flabbergasted as they never even considered Heechul in any of their guesses even though some of them were even friends with Heechul.
Sonorous 18 also said that he was amazed by Heechul's performance and thought that the brief moment where he turned his back to the crowd to create an effect was an excellent touch.
According to Heechul, it came as no surprise that most of the panelists and audience did not recognize his singing voice because he was very shy about it. However, it was Super Junior's Kyuhyun who encouraged him to participate in the show after being a champion on the show for five weeks as the character Genie.
"Kyuhyun recently did well on this show. He recommended the experience to me. He's someone who is always complimenting my singing. I wanted to leave behind a record of myself singing a song that I liked," he said.
He also thanked the show for letting him stand before an audience to perform and expressed regret that he is not able to join his Super Junior members on stage as often because of his previous car accident that resulted in a leg injury. Heechul still participates in Super Junior's albums and promotions but has stopped joining Super Show concerts because of this matter.
It can be recalled that for Genie's final performance, he made an emotional tribute to the late SHINEE member Jonghyun by singing his song, Y Si Fuera Ella, who committed suicide while Kyuhyun was serving in the military.
"I was in the military when the incident (his passing) happened, I cried so much. I thought of why I couldn't express my feelings first, and I wanted to tell him 'Jonghyun, hyung worked very hard to sing your song' someday on a music broadcast," Kyuhyun said.
