It’s no secret that there have been many big name celebrities that have graced the stage of The Masked Singer. Since the show’s inception, The Masked Singer has managed to bring some of the biggest stars to its stage. In recent years, there have been complaints that the celebrities featured on the show are of lower social status than those in previous seasons.
Why Has The Masked Singer Celebrity Status Has Gone Down?
When The Masked Singer started in 2019, the show saw its first cast. Setting the precedent, this first season included T-Pain, Donny Osmond, Tori Spelling, Tommy Chong, and more. Featuring a variety of different celebrities behind the masks, this inaugural season really set the stage for what fans could expect.
Since the show’s overwhelming success, fans continued to see big names under the mask in Season 2 (Fall 2019), including Wayne Brady, Chris Daughtry, Seal, Raven-Symoné, Sherri Shepherd, and more.
Season 3, which aired in early 2020 had the highest status celebrities to date. The season, which filmed in December 2019, as well as January and February 2020, featured Jesse McCartney, Jackie Evancho, Hunter Hayes, Bow Wow, JoJo Siwa, Tom Bergeron, Jake Paul, Bella Thorne, Tony Hawk, Drew Carey, even Lil Wayne!
While the rest of the world was shut down, The Masked Singer had the luxury of continuing to film due to the individualized aspect of their show. Since celebrities typically perform solo, it was likely easy for cast and crew to remain quarantined during filming.
Season 4 featured LeAnn Rimes, Nick Carter, Tori Kelly, Bob Saget, Wendy Williams, Brian Austin Green, Busta Rhymes, and more. The following season, which premiered in early 2021, featured stars like Nick Lachey, JoJo, Wiz Khalifa, Taylor, Isaac, & Zac Hanson, Tamera Mowry-Housley, Logan Paul, Danny Trejo, Caitlyn Jenner, even Kermit The Frog!
The show continued to thrive in Season 6 with stars Jewel, Todrick Hall, David Foster & Katharine McPhee, Natasha Bedingfield, Honey Boo Boo & Mama June, Larry the Cable Guy, Dwight Howard, and more.
So, Where Did We Go Wrong?
The season that really brought down the popularity of The Masked Singer was Season 7 which featured controversial political figure, Rudy Giuliani. Alongside the politician was Penn & Teller, Teyana Taylor, Jennifer Holliday and more.
From there, the show’s celebrities have gone downhill, featuring one to two current celebrities, but more than not featuring celebrities that are trying to revive their career. We’ve seen similar formatting issues when it comes to reality competition shows, like Dancing With The Stars, in the past. Basically, it’s no surprise that viewership is going to decrease when lesser known celebrities are at the forefront of the series.
That being said, there still have been various big stars in more recent seasons Wilson Phillips (Season 8), Bishop Briggs (Season 9), Pentatonix (Season 9), Ne-Yo (Season 10), Kevin Hart (Season 11), Drake Bell (Season 12), Andy Grammer (Season 13). The Masked Singer is seemingly hoping to revive its series this fall with the brand new America Insider, Kylie Cantrall. Fans will be able to know Cantrall is on the series, but panelists will be unaware of all the celebrity identities. Fans will not know Cantrall’s character on the series until the show premieres on January 7, 2026.
Words by:
Corey Cesare Corey Cesare is Talent Recap's Managing Editor and featured YouTube Host. She has a love of all things pop culture and an unhealthy obsession with celebrities. Corey earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Cinema/Screen Studies from the State University of New York at Oswego in 2021. She spends her spare time shooting astro, nature, and portrait photography, and coming up with movie ideas that she hopes to make into a film someday.
