10 Secrets They Never Told You About ‘The Masked Singer’ [VIDEO]
Fox Reading Time: 6 minutes
After four very successful seasons, everyone is wondering how The Masked Singer manages to excel at one thing, keeping secrets. Celebrity identities are concealed as the judges guess who is underneath the masks based on clues and nothing but their performances.
How has the show managed to hide so many secrets from the audience? Let’s take a deep dive into 10 things they never told you about The Masked Singer.
10 Secrets ‘The Masked Singer’ Never Told You
Contestants Are Never Referred To By Their Real Names
Obviously, on The Masked Singer, the contestants are referred to by the costumes they are wearing. This applies to both on and off camera. When contestants are walking around backstage, they are still never called by their real names. This ensures that their identities are kept concealed because even one slip-up can ruin a big reveal.
Contestants Entourages Have To Wear Disguises Too On The Set Of ‘The Masked Singer’
Even when the contestants aren’t performing, they still have to wear masks and ridiculous disguises backstage. The same goes for whichever members of their entourage that come visit them on set. Whether it’s a boyfriend, a bodyguard, a parent or a friend, each person has to dress up and conceal their identity too.
SEE ALSO: ALL THE REVEALS FROM SEASON 4 OF ‘THE MASKED SINGER’
Joey Fatone who was The Rabbit said that both he and his manager had to wear crazy disguises like a purple graduation gown and a shield on their face. This is just so that nobody recognizes members of the entourage and associates them with a particular celebrity.
Eliminated Contestants Are Not Revealed Right Away
When Nick Cannon announces that someone has been eliminated form the competition and must be unmasked, this process does not happen right away. The eliminated contestant first goes backstage to get touch-ups on their hair and makeup before the big reveal. Of course, celebrities want to look good for their big moment and after sweating underneath their costumes i’s only fitting that they get a little extra moment to get touch-ups.
Contestants Don’t Know Each Others Identities
Even when a contestant is eliminated from the competition, the other contestants are not allowed to know who they are. For example, when The Popcorn was eliminated from the competition, The Sun was not allowed to know that it was Taylor Dayne underneath the mask. This adds to the secrecy of the show and does not allow the contestants to know who they are competing against. Contestants are all kept separated so they have no idea who anyone else is.
The Show Often Uses Stand-Ins
On the show, we see the contestants performing on the stage and interacting with the judges. But, during the clue packages and some of the promotional shots, stand-ins are used to create the illusion that a celebrity is underneath the mask. Another person wears the costume during these scenes that are pre-recorded. Joey Fatone spilled the details about this in an interview and said he literally has no idea who was wearing The Rabbit costume during those vignettes.
SEE ALSO: TOP 5 MOST ROBBED CELEBRITIES ON ‘THE MASKED SINGER’ OF ALL TIME [VIDEO]
“When you see the clues, the clues are more or less a voiceover that we did, believe it or not” he said in an interview with E Online. There was so much stuff going on that they actually had somebody else in the costumes when we did the vignettes. When you see the clues, that wasn’t me in the costume. The voice was me, but the costume was not.”
Nick Cannon Was The Only Choice To Host The Show
Nick has been a huge part of why The Masked Singer has become so successful. His hosting abilities stem from years of hosting America’s Got Talent and Wild ‘N Out. It was a no-brainer when it came time to choose a host for The Masked Singer.
“He was my number one choice from day one” executive Izzie Pick Ibarra said in an interview. “I can’t imagine any other person hosting the show. Not only because of his experience in having done shows like this before, that obviously goes without saying, but there was also his fashion sense.”
The Audience Cannot Have Cell Phones And Must Sign A Contract
The live audience is one of the best parts of The Masked Singer because we love seeing everyone’s excitement and reactions. Audience members are not allowed to have cell phones while they watch the show to prevent any recording or leaking of information. They must also sign a contract to ensure they keep their lips zipped about the production and any of the secrets that are spilled.
Things might not be as they seem though because a majority of the audience is escorted out of the theater before a contestant gets revealed. This is to prevent anyone from leaking the identity of the contestants when they get revealed. Instead, their family members, friends and other members of their entourage come out and join the audience to cheer them on for the big reveal.
Contestants Get To Choose From A Variety Of Costumes
Designer Marina Toybina has been designing the costumes since season one of the show. She sketches out what ideas she has for each season of the show and sends a few of them over to the contestants to see which costumes they resonate with the most.
SEE ALSO: MARGARET SHO SHARES DETAILS OF BEING THE POODLE ON ‘THE MASKED SINGER’
“I was presented first with an artists’ rendering of the Poodle and the Alien,” season one contestant Margaret Cho explained. “I could choose between which one I wanted and chose the Poodle because I’m a dog lover, and I thought that would be really fun, and I loved how strangely robot the dog was, so I went with that.”
Contestants Require Entourages To Help Them With Their Costumes
If you have ever sat and wondered how heavy the costumes are on The Masked Singer then you are in the right place. The costumes are so heavy that they require an entire entourage of people backstage to help out. Wendy Williams spoke about this on her talk show after The Lips costume she wore was so heavy that she sat down for her entire performance. She mentioned that it was so hot underneath the costume and needed help backstage walking around.
Most Of ‘The Masked Singer’ Production Team Doesn’t Know Who Is Under The Masks
Each season, only about 25 members of the production team know the identities of the masked celebrities. The Masked Singer is a huge production with so many people that work to make it all happen. It is certainly not easy keeping the identities concealed from people working on set, even in the smaller roles.
“I was extremely, extremely careful about how many people were really privy to that information” Ibarra said. “People were learning who the cast were as we were taping the show.”
SEE ALSO: WENDY WILLIAMS REFLECTS ON ‘THE MASKED SINGER’ EXPERIENCE DAYS AFTER STRANGE ON-AIR BEHAVIOR
Are there any other major secrets that you ‘Masked Singer’ detectives out there know?
