Vincent Gross wins German The Masked Singer as the bull Fernando El Toro

The winner

Vincent Gross, 30, a schlager singer from Basel, won the 13th season of ProSieben's The Masked Singer on Wednesday, 21 October, performing as the bull Fernando El Toro. In the final he drew the most audience votes and was the last of the remaining five masks to be unmasked. Luca Hänni, also Swiss, had won the German edition in 2023. Anna-Carina Woitschack, a schlager singer who previously won RTL's Let's Dance, took second place as Wild Thing, and Joey Heindle finished third as P.S. Jasmin Schwiers, who performed as Professor Dr. Dr. Schweinstein, and Gisa Flake, the Yeti Cat, finished fourth and fifth. Ronan Keating, one of the 16 masked celebrities, was eliminated in the semifinal.

Gross told Blick that he had not expected to win.

I really did not expect to win, really not.

Secrecy behind the mask

Production guards the identities closely, and only a few staff members know who is behind each mask. Gross said he was collected discreetly at the station in Cologne and had to wear a hooded top and ski goggles in the van so that no one would recognise him. He was not allowed to leave the hotel, and even the crew who knew his identity addressed him as Fernando, not Vincent. He compared the security effort to a state visit.

We were driven around in dark, tinted vans with balaclavas.

The show was not broadcast live in its latest season. The panel and the studio audience decided who advanced during the recording in Cologne. Gross called the programme a children's birthday party for grown-ups.

Clues and guesses

Comedian Chris Tall, a member of the panel, suspected Gross from the first appearance and was right. Verona Pooth had pointed to presenter Jochen Schropp instead, doubting that he had the stamina for such a stage act. Clues included references to Greece and to Ouzo, one of Gross's best-known songs. Woitschack, a close friend of Gross and his partner in winning RTL's Die Verräter in 2023, said after the show:

Thank you for the experience, because people really don't know me like this.

Gross said he had recognised Woitschack right after the first episode and Heindle from the semifinal onward. After the win he danced on the panel's table.

The final and the broken trophy

The finale opened with Yeti Cat singing Let It Go, and P.S. followed with Yellow. Fernando El Toro performed YMCA, which got the panel dancing, and Professor Dr. Dr. Schweinstein sang The Story, moving host Matthias Opdenhövel to tears. Wild Thing closed the performances with Black Velvet. The audience then chose Wild Thing, P.S. and Fernando El Toro to perform again, while Yeti Cat and Schweinstein had to unmask. Under the Yeti Cat costume was Gisa Flake (41), a guess the panel missed entirely. Ruth Moschner and Chris Tall had tipped Jasmin Schwiers for Schweinstein, and they were right. In the commotion of the ceremony the trophy broke, and Opdenhövel was left holding part of it.