‘The Masked Singer’ Starts on Fox Jan. 2

The Masked Singer, a competition series that will have celebrities singing incognito, starts on Fox Jan. 2. Nick Cannon hosts and Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke are panelists.

Based on an international format, the series features celebrities facing off against one another, and covered from head to toe in an elaborate costume, complete with full face mask. With each performance, the host, panelists, audience and viewers are left guessing who is singing behind the mask.

Fox is not saying who the celebrities are, but said they have a combined 65 Grammy Award nominations, 16 Emmy Award nominations, four stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and four Super Bowl titles.

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One singer will be eliminated by the audience and judges each week, based on their performance, and will then reveal his or her true identity.

According to Fox, “It’s not a “whodunit, it’s a whosungit!”

Jeong said of The Masked Singer at the summer TCA press tour, “Everyone wants an emotional journey when they watch a show. This show definitely provides that.”

The Masked Singer is produced by Endemol Shine North America. It is executive produced by Craig Plestis. Izzie Pick Ibarra is also an executive producer, and Alex Rudzinski directs. Cannon, Nikki Varhely Gillingham and Rosie Seitchik are co-executive producers.

The show is based on a South Korean format. 

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.