Does ‘The Masked Singer’ Have A Live Audience During COVID?
FOX The Masked Singer is back with season four. And while all of the costumed celebrities are capturing our attention, there’s something else that we all have questions about. How does it appear that there is a live audience present in the studio watching the contestants perform? The answers have finally been…unmasked.
Before reading further, check out last week’s recap show where hosts Mel and Kyle talk about everything that happened during the premiere. Plus, they reveal the identity of The Sun and it might not be who you think! Make your guesses now.
The Truth Behind ‘The Masked Singer’ Season 4 Audience
If you watched the premiere of The Masked Singer, it definitely looked like there was an audience cheering The Dragon on as he removed his mask and revealed his identity. Rapper Busta Rhymes was revealed by Nick Cannon, you could feel the energy and shock of the audience. But things aren’t what they seem.
While there were several shots of people hooting and hollering in the audience throughout the show, it was all just a camera trick. “You’ll notice that the audience will feel like it’s behind the judges. The one thing I’m expecting is for people to say is ‘How come they’re not COVID friendly? The audience aren’t wearing masks.’ Through various quarantining and various camera tricks, we’ve managed to do it.” Fox Entertainment’s President of Alternative Entertainment and Specials Rob Wade told Deadline.
SEE ALSO: ‘THE MASKED SINGER’ SEASON 4 PREMIERE RECAP: THE FIRST DUO EVER + A LIT REVEAL!
The people in the audience are not wearing masks because most of the audience shots were from past seasons. They were just edited in a way that makes it look like it happened at that taping. The Masked Singer is prerecorded, so in the past, audiences would come and do several reaction takes on camera.
However, there was a casting call for the show looking for a few more people to do reaction shots to appear on this season. It said the show is “looking for featured audience members to be in the background for audience reaction shots for Fox’s The Masked Singer.” The taping was on August 23 and all audience members were required to be tested for COVID. The few audience members were paid $650 but were told that they will not see the actual show. Their day was just strictly filming reaction shots.
Other Ways The Show Gave Off The Illusion Of Having Fans In The Masked Singer Studio
Executive Producer Craig Plestis also clarified some of fans most asked questions. “You’ll see a lot of differences this season too with the virtual reality stuff, with the animation, with adding America’s votes — since we couldn’t have a full audience of 300 people, though we’re utilizing some audience footage from past seasons to get that audience feel” he said.
“We’re augmenting some of the clapping and stuff to get that audience feel, kind of like what sports does” he continued. “But we want to make sure our show comes back and doesn’t feel like a Zoom show. And for myself, as a viewer, not a producer, when I come home at the end of the day, I want to watch TV. I don’t want to watch another Zoom. I Zoom almost 24/7, so that’s the last thing I want to see is little boxes. I want to watch my old TV show.”
SEE ALSO: ‘THE MASKED SINGER’ FANS ALREADY THINK THEY KNOW WHO THE GIRAFFE IS
The show also uses editing and virtual reality to give the appearance of a larger theater that is filled with audience members. It’s definitely very refreshing to see that The Masked Singer is operating this way since other talent shows are using strictly virtual audiences.
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