SPOILER ALERT: The following story contains the name of the winner and runner-up from Wednesday night’s (December 18) Season 12 finale. The Masked Singer.

It was another wild and woolly season The Masked Singerwith everyone from former superstar NFL QB John Elway (Leaf Sheep) and surfer Bethany Hamilton (Macaron) to actors Yvette Nicole Brown (Showbird), Laverne Cox (Chess Piece) and Jana Kramer ( Royal Knight) and Drake Bell (Ice King) as well as former Conan O’Brien sidekick Andy Richter (Dust Bunny).

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Of course, there were also some professional singers there, including Paula Cole (Ship), Natalie Imbruglia (Bluebell) and AJ Michalka (Strawberry Shortcake). But as the final notes rang out, it was one of the greatest vocal groups of all time prevailing against one of their fellow R&B crooners.

En route to the winner’s circle, the Buffalos’ three masked wonders were featured everywhere in their musical selections, from a stunning early version of the Cutting Crew’s 1986 hit “(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight” to a soulful run through Foreigner’s ultimate power ballad “Waiting for a Girl Like You” and a no-notes, touching cover of Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One.”

And even though the judges were sure they were members of a soul singing crew, the Buffalos continued to try out Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Ken Jeong, Robin Thicke and Rita Ora with sing-alongs and sing-offs to “Fall Out Boys.” to bring one’s composure. “High Hopes,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way,” and a slam-dunk semifinal torch of Toto’s yacht-rock anthem “Africa.”

In the end, after almost being eliminated while trying to keep the audience and judges guessing, they performed an absolutely stunning version of Sam Smith’s “Too Good at Goodbyes” in Wednesday night’s finale, leaving little doubt that that their old buddy McCarthy-Wahlberg was right all along.

When the heads fell, it was none other than Boyz II Men’s Nathan Morris, Shawn Stockman and Wanya Morris who triumphed over Wasp, fellow R&B singer Mario. billboard spoke to the trio before their exit about how the show challenged their nearly four-decade-long stage routine, why they kept choosing such seemingly offbeat songs, and how they ended up playing a Christmas song with the Kelce brothers of football.

Why buffalo? These costumes seemed insanely heavy and hot.

Nathan: I like the power. I like the strength, I like the unity, the whole crew, the herd. …It’s all about who we are. Everyone had their tasks, but at the same time we know what we have to do to strengthen the pack.

Vanya: Extreme (hot in there). I’m talking about water and sweat running down every part of your body and every orifice.

Nathan: I almost hyperventilated in that joint and that doesn’t usually happen for me. When you’re in there, you have to exert a lot more energy than you need to give the costume personality. You’re like a mascot. It’s hell in there, brother. Do that, sing, stay in key and follow routines? That’s not easy!

You’ve all been in sync for decades, but on the show you couldn’t see each other or watch each other’s mouths move. Was that a challenge?

Shawn: It was almost like wearing a football helmet where you only have a certain line of sight. You had to turn your whole body to communicate and then turn around and all you saw was what the mask allowed you to see. We had in-ears (monitors) so we could hear the mix, but then the music and the audience are moving, it gets the adrenaline pumping and you’re trying to portray a character. There’s a lot of information involved in those few minutes, aside from trying to sound good and stay in key.

Vanya: The only thing you could see through was the nose. The eyes were up here (points to forehead), so it was like a cone.

We’re used to slick R&B from you, but you really went all out with songs by Toto, The Verve, OneRepublic, Shania Twain and Fall Out Boy – did you want to throw people off?

Nathan: We tried to trick people. We all thought, “They’ll recognize us right away,” so we had to choose different songs and everyone had to sing a different role than they normally do. So we did that and as we got further into the fights we almost got kicked out, so it didn’t work and we decided, “Just let them have it!”

Shawn: The cool thing was the irony that we could be ourselves with the masks. These songs were representative of who we are, not just an R&B group. All the songs you hear us sing are from the ones we listened to as kids, from the genres we love, and from songs that helped us show who Boyz II Men really are.

Their voices, individually and together, are so instantly recognizable. Were there people who got it straight away?

Vanya: Yes, Jenny (McCarthy-Wahlberg) knows us. We’ve been out with her a few times with (husband) Donnie (Wahlberg). She knows our behavior and heard our voices night after night when we were on a package trip with the New Kids (on the Block). She knew immediately. We tried to be less recognizable, but then we got pushed into the bottom two spots and said, “Hell no!”

You have had many unique experiences in your career. Was that one of the most unusual things you’ve ever done?

Vanya: Absolutely. It really fits into one of the most different things Boyz II Men have done in our careers, with the closing ceremonies of the Olympics when we played the national anthem (at the 1996 Games).

What attracted you to being behind a mask? What did you want to prove?

Nathan: No expectations. When you hear Boyz II Men in your head you expect it to sound a certain way, but when we don’t have those expectations you can go anywhere you want.

Vanya: When I was watching the show last night and I saw Nate being the green Buffalo, I swear you would never know it was Nate in that suit because Nate doesn’t act like that – he’s smooth, smooth. He looked like me in that Buffalo suit! He was super animated and I was so happy to see it.

Nathan: I was just trying to throw her off. I had fun because that’s what I do when I’m with my crew.

Were you still able to perform some of your patented choreos in these costumes?

Vanya: We definitely had to change it, the feet were big, bro. The feet… and that head!

Nathan: I stepped on Shawn three or four times.

In the finale you impressed with Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know,” which rocked. But you’ve really made Sam Smith’s “Too Good at Goodbyes” your own. It sounded like it could have been your single.

Nathan: Then the gloves were taken off.

Shawn: We knew we had to go full Boyz II Men at the last show, and by that point a lot of people already knew it was us, so we said, “Let’s do Boyz II Men stuff!” ”

Vanya: We had an idea who we were going against (Wasp), and this guy is no joke!

Nathan: We weren’t supposed to know, but we could tell who it was.

They said Jenny knew, but she also mentioned B2K, and Robin thought it could be the Jonas Brothers or the rest of 98 Degrees (minus their show mentor Nick Lachey) or Big Time Rush. Always wrong Ken Jeong chose Bell Biv DeVoe, Bone Thugs -N-Harmony or Tony! Tony! Clay! There were also guesses about Earth, Wind and Fire and Blackstreet. Your thoughts?

Shawn: Some of it was a little off, like “Bone Thugs”? No offense to the Thuggers.

Since it’s the holidays, tell us about yourselfour collaboration with the Kelce brothers on their single “It’s Christmastime (In Cleveland Heights)”.

Shawn: They reached out to us and felt like we were synonymous with the idea they had for the song, and it was fun. It’s always cool to do things like this because they’re unexpected and we’ve been in this business for over 30 years. At this point we’re just trying to do things that are interesting or fun or funny or something that pushes the boundaries of what a group can do at this point in our lives. In addition, it was for a good cause, for charities and some of our personal charities. And it’s the Kelces! They are currently the hottest brother duo in the country.

We know they can shoot, but most importantly, how do you rate their singing?

Nathan: You know… they’re not bad! They did their thing. They’re really good at football, and they do it really, really well, and they did it well, and I think that’s their destiny in life. No diss, but they were great.

Vanya: How about this? They did it better than some of us would run a 9 route. I’m telling you!

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