The Masked Singer Information

The Masked Singer is an American reality singing competition television series. The series premiered on Fox on January 2, 2019. It is based on the South Korean format King of Mask Singer.

The show is hosted by Nick Cannon and features celebrities singing in a head-to-toe costume and face mask which conceals their identities from other contestants, the panelists, and the audience.

Format

A total of 12 celebrities will appear and compete on the show over ten episodes. The audience and judges vote on which singer is the best, and the singer with the lowest votes is eliminated and reveals their identity. Small hints revealing their identity are given to viewers during the show.

The competitors are said to have a combined 65 Grammy nominations, 16 multi-Platinum albums, 16 Emmy nominations, 9 Broadway shows, 4 Super Bowl titles, and 4 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Host

Celebrity judges

Progress chart

Mask	Celebrity	Episode
		1	2
Deer		SAFE
Lion		WIN
Monster		SAFE
Peacock		WIN
Unicorn		WIN
Alien
Bee
Pineapple
Poodle
Rabbit
Raven
Hippo	Antonio Brown	OUT

Episodes

Week 1 (January 2)

Challenge performances on the first episode

Order	Mask	Song	Challenge result
1	Peacock	"The Greatest Show" by Hugh Jackman	WIN
2	Hippo	"My Prerogative" by Bobby Brown	OUT
3	Monster	"Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen	SAFE
4	Unicorn	"Fight Song" by Rachel Platten	WIN
5	Deer	"Thunder" by Imagine Dragons	SAFE
6	Lion	"A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)" by Fergie	WIN

Reception

Critical response

The premiere episode received mixed reviews. Vulture felt that the series was more entertaining, yet "weirder, sillier, and stupider" than other U.S. music competition programs, and described the format as having the "vibe" of "what if [Philadelphia Flyers mascot] Gritty walked out on a soundstage made to look like an arena concert, belted out Sam Smith's 'Stay With Me,' was described as 'a professional' by Jenny McCarthy, took off his head to reveal he was Joey Fatone, and the entire experience felt three clicks away from an episode of Black Mirror?" The judges were considered to be "weak" and "[approaching] their jobs with all the insight and acumen of an America's Next Top Model contestant trying to decipher the Tyra Mail", and that the performances were "underwhelming" (using Ryan Reynolds' surprise cameo appearance on the Korean version singing "Tomorrow" as a benchmark) due to the contestants not always being singers. However, the format was deemed to have depth for being "a pretty fascinating examination of celebrity culture, mass appeal, performance, image, and fame." Emily Yahr of the Washington Post described the premiere episode as "one of the craziest reality shows of our time".

Ratings

Episode		Original airdate	Time slot (ET)	Viewers	Adults (18-49)		Source
					Rating	Share
1	"Mask On Face Off"	January 2, 2019	Wednesday 9:00 p.m.
2	"New Masks on the Block"	January 9, 2019