Fox’s “The Masked Singer” shocked us last year. As the previews rolled in, we were all convinced that it was going to be the most ridiculous show to hit network television in history. I mean, look at these outfits.
But, to our...delight?...“The Masked Singer” was a rousing success. Hosted by Nick Cannon, the premise of the show is to get celebrities (some known for singing, others not) to dress head to toe in elaborate costumes and perform for a panel of judges (Robin Thicke, Nicole Scherzinger, Ken Jeong and Jenny McCarthy).
Cannon, other contestants and audience members are also in the dark about who’s behind the masks. Contestants compete in singing face-offs voted on by the judges and live audiences, and the winners move on from week to week. Each episode also reveals a clue about the singers’ identities, but it’s not until the performers are eliminated that we find out who they are.
Last season’s masked celebrities included Tori Spelling, Ricki Lake, Joey Fatone and La Toya Jackson, and after the surprise popularity of “The Masked Singer,” it was renewed and season 2 got serious. According to McCarthy, singers are taking no chances when it comes to having their identities revealed too early, forcing judges to resort to keeping tabs on body language to get a good guess -- not that it helped.
“They were more strict behind the scenes, wanting to keep it confidential,” McCarthy told Entertainment Tonight. “There were a couple of times where I needed to go to the bathroom, and one of the contestants was coming in, but they had full-on hoods and [signs that said], ‘Don't talk to me.’”
McCarthy compared the secrecy to another uber-popular show: “Game of Thrones.” Now, no matter how elaborate the costumes get on “The Masked Singer,” I think it’s safe to say that it won’t compare to the splendor of GoT, but McCarthy claims that all the secret-keeping and efforts to keep information hidden reminded her of the desperate measures the cast and crew went through to keep the ending of “Game of Thrones” classified until it aired.
“Sometimes they would crouch to walk past me to look shorter!” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ It's so wild how confidential and secret [it all is],” McCarthy added. “It's like the ‘Game of Thrones’ finale!”
As revealed in the “Game of Thrones” documentary about the making of season 8, “The Last Watch,” HBO was taking no chances. The show constantly fell victim to leaks throughout its run due to the sheer amount of fans out there, but also because of insane things like drones flying above sets. To keep the trolls at bay, GoT would send actors to filming locations that their characters wouldn’t actually be seen in and destroy scripts as soon as scenes were shot.
It doesn’t sound like “The Masked Singer” is going to lengths like those, but it does add to the intrigue. Hell, maybe I’ll even tune in this season. Catch it on Fox on Sept. 25 at 8 p.m.!