Ryan Reynolds Was “In Actual Hell” Performing on ‘The Masked Singer’ in Korea: “Why Did I Sign Up to Do This?”

Before there was Rudy Giuliani or Lil Wayne,  Ryan Reynolds bravely competed on the original Masked Singer. The Marvel star appeared on the Korean version of the reality singing show in 2018, when he performed under a unicorn costume and revealed himself to a shocked audience. And while viewers were thrilled by the surprise, Reynolds says his time onstage was anything but fun.

Reynolds, who was in Korea promoting the second Deadpool film at the time, said he chose to appear on The Masked Singer to spice up his press tour. He told TODAY, “I’ve been doing this job a long time, and when you go on these international tours, you start to say, ‘What’s the weirdest show we can go on?'” per Entertainment Weekly.

“This was before The Masked Singer was in the U.S.,” Reynolds explained. The King of Mask Singer, which began in South Korea in 2015, launched an American spinoff on FOX in 2019.

Reynolds told TODAY he heard about the show being “huge” in South Korea and immediately wanted to participate, thinking at the time, “‘Lord, we’re doing this show. We have to do that show.'”

Despite his initial excitement about suiting up and belting out a song, Reynolds told TODAY his time on The King of Mask Singer was not as thrilling as he was hoping it would be. The actor wore a unicorn costume while performing “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie, and made history with his reveal.

“At the time, no Westerner had been on that show before, so it was a big surprise when I lost the mask,” Reynolds said.

Although the audience was in for a treat when Reynolds unmasked, he said he didn’t share their enthusiasm.

“What’s crazy is, I was in actual hell. When I was there, I was like, ‘Why did I sign up to do this? This is horrible! This is truly horrible!'” Reynolds said. “I don’t even know this song, I don’t know how to do this. It was traumatic.”

See Reynold’s infamous Masked Singer performance for yourself in the video above.