1. Do The Contestants On The Masked Singer Get Paid More Than
2. Do The Contestants On The Masked Singer Get Paid People
3. Do The Contestants On The Masked Singer Get Paid The Most

Network Ten’s hit new show The Masked Singer has already amassed a huge audience – but some fans aren’t convinced the performances are genuine. Viewers were quick to slam the singers on social media, suggesting they weren’t actually performing their songs live. It's based on a South Korean show. The viral competition series isn't an American original — it's.

What if a bunch of college sports team mascots gussied up their costumes and descended on a soundstage to hold a singing contest? Or what if a bunch of celebrities dressed up like stuffed animals designed by the House of Gaga and then asked an audience to love them for their musical aspirations, rather than the thing for which they are primarily known? Both of these insane scenarios could be used to describe Fox's midseason hit reality competition series The Masked Singer. Such a high-concept show with such a simple title, but those three words pretty much let the audience know what it's getting.

Fading celebrities, former household names, and various and sundry other famous people put on elaborate and whimsical animal and creature costumes, then go out onto a stage and sing a popular song. Then it's up to the judges (and viewers at home) to guess who's under the masks. It's no secret that The Masked Singer is a surprise smash hit and cultural phenomenon. Here's everything we can tell you about this secretive series.

It's already a hit around the world

As much as The Masked Singer seems like something you imagined while home sick with the flu, it's actually based on a hit show from the other side of the world. Mystery Music Show: King of Mask Singer, or just King of Mask Singer,debuted on South Korean network MBC in 2015 and was an instant hit. While the masks differ slightly (the Korean version features face costumes that look like cartoon characters as opposed to monstrous versions of Disneyland characters), it rocks the same format. For example, one of the first costumed contestants whose identity was revealed was Kim Yeon-woo, who sang for the '90s band Toy but appeared on King of Mask Singer as 'Chemical Weapon Cleopatra.' The show was so popular — and bizarrely unique — that it quickly spread to other networks around Asia, including broadcasters in China, Thailand, and Vietnam.

In late 2017, Deadline reported that an American version was in the works for Fox, courtesy of former NBC reality programming head Craig Plestis. He'd seen an episode of Thailand's version while dining at a Thai restaurant in Los Angeles. He told The Hollywood Reporter that everyone in the place couldn't look away, and within a few days, he'd secured the American remake rights. 'I just knew right away this was a special show,' Plestis said, in which 'special' means full of 'nightmare-inducing' masks.

Yesterday's 'Tomorrow' is today's smash

While The Masked Singer suddenly appeared on Fox's primetime schedule shortly after New Year's Day 2019 amidst modest publicity, its arrival wasn't without warning signs. The first time Americans got a taste of the delights of famous people trying their best to sing songs while wearing elaborate, identity-concealing animal costumes came all the way back in the spring of 2018.

Countless unsuspecting individuals viewed a viral video of a man in a unicorn mask who sounded just like big-time movie star Ryan Reynolds singing 'Tomorrow' from the musical Annie on a bizarre Korean reality show. Well, it was big-time movie star Ryan Reynolds, and his guest spot on King of the Mask Singer was just one element of the nontraditional, bordering on guerrilla marketing, campaign for his movie Deadpool 2. However, the King of Mask Singer judges didn't quite nail it. One judge speculated that the guy in the unicorn outfit was President Donald Trump, which is absurd because he didn't have a movie to promote.

Can you keep a secret?

Not since the 1930s Hollywood 'studio system' covered up unmarried actresses' pregnancies has an entertainment product gone to such great lengths to maintain secrecy. The Masked Singer's producers and crew have apparently planned for every contingency to ensure performers' faces aren't revealed until the appointed time. As most shows have a 'bible' of character descriptions and plot notes, The Masked Singer also has a 'secrecy bible,' which according to Executive Producer Craig Plestis (via Variety), is 'thicker than the format bible.' Among the procedures in that book-length document: Only seven people on the show's enormous staff know the identity of the contestants at the beginning of the series. That's because the contestants' appearances were obscured at every opportunity — when on set they wore 'masks and special visors' as well as 'gloves and long pants' to hide all skin. According to judge Ken Jeong (per Us Weekly), 'Not only are the contestants in masks but their managers, agents, and publicists are all in masks, too, because the judges may know them.'

Even before they got to the shooting location, the not-yet-masked stars had to hide. 'Before they even left their house, they had to meet at another location,' Plestis told The Hollywood Reporter. 'We had drivers who had no idea who they were. Everyone was under a different alias.' Upon arrival on the set, the singers were 'sequestered into a private area' watched over by security guards. All that to prevent people from finding out the Poodle was comedian Margaret Cho.

Here come the judges

The Masked Singer is more than just masked C-list celebrities. It's also got unmasked B-list celebrities! We're talking about the judging panel (although since the studio audience votes on its favorite singer, the judges don't actually 'judge' anything.) They're just there to make guesses on behalf of the viewing audience.

Producers landed a fairly impressive batch of talent for an unproven show. Robin Thicke, best known for the monster hit 'Blurred Lines,' for which he was heartily sued for allegedly stealing parts of it from Marvin Gaye's 'Got to Give It Up.' He told Entertainment Tonight that he signed on to The Masked Singer because he was so taken with the aforementioned viral video of Ryan Reynolds. Nicole Scherzinger, she of the Pussycat Dolls, agreed to be on the panel, but only after passing on the chance to be one of the masked performers. Ken Jeong — known for his work in The Hangover and on Community — has a personal connection to The Masked Singer. He's Korean-American, and his Korean mother loves King of Mask Singer. 'I wanted my mom to finally be proud of me,' he joked at a Television Critics Association event (via Broadcasting & Cable).

How they don't reveal after the reveal

A lot of work goes into keeping the identities of the performers secret during their time on the show when it's obviously of utmost importance to do that, but each episode — which includes at least one de-masking or 'reveal' — is taped well in advance of its air date. How are the revealed contestants' famous names and million-dollar faces kept hush-hush after their 'ta-da' moments are captured for the cameras? Is it really possible to get a studio audience to just not say anything on Twitter or Instagram?

Actually, it is, yes. According to an interview with Executive Producer Craig Plestis in The Hollywood Reporter, while the performances happen in front of a full house, the unmaskings go down in front of a much smaller audience. 'We did the reveals in front of a truncated audience that we vetted thoroughly,' he said. 'And some friends and family, as well,' he added, meaning people who'd be shunned and ostracized from family gatherings and text chains if they spilled any info. Still, they got that trust in writing. 'Our lawyers [wrote] contracts that were a mile long that everyone had to sign to keep the secrecy,' Plestis said.

Technically, she's behind all the masks

A healthy chunk of the budget for The Masked Singer went into the design and construction of all those stunning headpieces and concealing body-wear. A little bit Vegas stage show, a little bit cartoon-come-to-life, and a little bit like that live-action remake of Where the Wild Things Are, the show's sartorial selections sprout largely from the mind of four-time Emmy-winning costume designer Marina Toybina. She's designed costumes for pop stars' music videos (Britney Spears' 'Piece of Me'), pop stars' tours (Pink's 2018 extravaganza), and pop stars' Super Bowl shows. Those wonderful dancing sharks from Katy Perry's halftime show? All Toybina. (Yep, she's responsible for 'Left Shark.')

Toybina drew costume idea sketches before singers were cast, and then 'the producers and I were able to figure out which 12 we wanted to keep,' she told The New York Times. 'From there it was more collaborating, letting some of the cast members possibly choose their own costume.' She worked closely with the masked singers to make them feel comfortable, which included adding 'breathing mechanisms, putting fans inside of masks.' This wasn't all off the top of her head, though. 'I was able to introduce everything that I was inspired by — Donnie Darko and Edward Scissorhands had a huge influence on the rabbit costume,' she said. 'The whimsical side of Narnia had a little bit of an influence on the lion and the unicorn.'

Sound principles at work

The Masked Singer loves masks so much that it has the word 'masked' right there in its title. It also loves 'singing,' and a variant of that word is also in the name. As such, the setup, execution, and specifications of the masks — and how singing is realistically and cleanly managed in spite of those masks — are the biggest production challenges faced by the show's crew.

According to Variety, when contestants are backstage but not yet in costume, they wear oversized, identity-obscuring sweatshirts that read, 'Don't talk to me,' which stops people from talking to them and thus prevents them from talking ... and then accidentally revealing their possibly recognizable speaking voices. When contestants speak on-air — such as bantering with host Nick Cannon or in their pre-recorded interview segments — those voices are altered in the name of keeping the mystery intact. However, their voices are not changed at all during the actual singing performances, which are executed live and never pre-recorded.

Executive Producer Craig Plestis says the masks were carefully constructed for clarity. 'A lot of research and a lot of energy was spent on sound quality and testing out these masks,' he told Variety. 'It's about constructing the mask so there's not an echo ... there are certain ways to construct these masks so the voice can come out and project the voice properly.'

It's got big stars in it, honest!

Before it debuted to huge ratings, Fox had to carefully market The Masked Singer. Usually, ads for a new show tout the people involved — the marquee stars you might remember from other TV series and movies, and thus know and love. The conceit of The Masked Singer absolutely precluded that from happening. Instead, the Fox marketing department had to play up how tantalizing it was that the names of the stars involved couldn't be revealed. However, to prove that these were real 'name' stars (and not, like, a forgotten Real Housewife or the fourth lead from a TBS sitcom), ads touted the collective achievements of contestants.

It's the same strategy that Executive Producer Craig Plestis used when pitching the show to Fox executives and potential advertisers. 'You can't use the big names, at all, to sell,' Plestis told Variety. 'I can only say there are 65 Grammy nominations here, four Emmy winners, four people who are Walk of Famers, three who have bestselling books.'

The Pineapple can feel the love tonight

So why would a famous person agree to the somewhat embarrassing prospect of singing through a wacky mask on television? Well, why does any celebrity do anything? Why does anybody do anything?

For money. At least, that's why Tommy Chong appeared on The Masked Singer. Chong, the comedian and actor best known for being half of the legendary Cheech and Chong comedy duo (and for playing burnout Leo on That '70s Show) was revealed as the 'Pineapple' on the second episode of the singing competition series in 2019. According to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Chong said that after producers explained the show to him, he replied, 'OK, when do I get paid?' That was the only question.' Chong also revealed that while he looked forward to the 'challenge' of singing, he really didn't want to say no. 'Any time you're asked to be on a major show, the first impulse is to say yes,' he said. That's because he still regrets a gig he did decline.

'I turned down a Disney job one time. Lion King, by the way. It cost me a million dollars or so, but I thought the Cheech and Chong brand would be sullied if we all of a sudden became a Disney character. But that was my only mistake,' he said.

Its ratings are out of this world

About the only thing working against The Masked Singer is that it's a show on a broadcast network. Technology has drastically cut into network ratings as more people tune in to cable channels, play video games, watch a show a couple weeks later on Hulu, or binge an entire season of something a year later on Netflix. And yet, The Masked Singer seems to be bucking those trends. It's bringing Fox — and by extension, all of broadcast television — some of the best numbers for a reality show in years.

According to Deadline, the debut episode — meaning no word-of-mouth about the show had enticed people to tune in yet — brought in 9.36 million total viewers and scored a 3.0 in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49 demographic. That made it the No. 1 show of the night in both total viewers and younger ones. That also made it the most-watched, regularly-scheduled reality show debut since Fox launched the American version of The X Factor in 2011. As of January 2019, The Masked Singer had also earned the highest rating for any episode of any non-scripted show in two years. People really like to see football players and comedians try to sing!

I watched Wednesday’s episode of The Masked Singer with perhaps the most critical audience possible: the Television Critics Association. Fox showed the episode a few hours early so critics could interview the unmasked singer. Even in that room—a ballroom of critics who’ve seen all the shows and heard all the hopes/dreams/lies about the shows—the reveal elicited some visible reactions.

In my coverage of the show, I perhaps have not mentioned enough how fun The Masked Singer can be. Many of the show’s choices have frustrated me, but it’s so easy to get swept into the moment, and the unmasking—whether it’s exactly the person you thought it would be, or someone completely different—is a thrill.

But I do have questions, and so did the room of critics, and so do many of you.

Thanks to Fox’s willingness to put its producers, judges, and the most recently unmasked singer (who’s identified in this piece) on stage for a press conference, we now have a lot of answers.

Did the masked singers know who the others were?

No. Ricki Lake, who was unmasked as Raven this week, said:

“I haven’t had any contact with anyone, and I did not know who anybody else was. We were sequestered for the most part, and whenever we were in the same vicinity, we were completely covered. They were diligent about making sure we had the hoods and the visors and the whole thing.

And, again, I’m so open. I’m such an open book my entire career that for me to have to be, like, private and secret and in disguise, it was a fun task for me. But, no, I have not been in touch with anybody. I’d love to get in touch with Margaret Cho.

That secrecy was maintained through an elaborate process, Ricki explained:

“The car that would pick me up, they did not know my name. When I arrived, they didn’t know what I was going to. The minute I got close to the studio, I was covered. They would make me. It was hot. It was in the summer, and I had to wear this giant hoodie, you know, with the visor, and we would go right into my little honey wagon area, and I would stay there. I didn’t have anyone accompanying me. I was alone. And there was really little interaction, only on the show day, when I would maybe see the Bee from far away, but I did not ever come close.”

If a singer had an entourage—friends, family, staff members—those people were also covered up, so that no one could recognize them.

Did people at Fox know who the singers were?

Fox reality TV executive Rob Wade said that “literally a very small number of us knew, and it was incredibly difficult and still is actually incredibly difficult to keep secret because there’s obviously a few people to still be revealed.”

Only three executives know the singers’ identity: the alternative entertainment team of Wade, Corie Henson, and Claire O’Donohoe.

“Everyone above us and very senior members of the FOX organization didn’t want to know,” Wade said, “because they were terrified that they would give it away.”

Are the masked singers singing live?

Yes, according to the producers—though it’s enhanced.

When asked if there were any vocal effects or auto-tune applied to the performances, executive producer Craig Plestis said,

“The great thing about the show: everyone had to sing live, and they only had one take each. So it really was a monumental feat for everyone to do this and with the masks. It was really difficult designing the masks and getting that great audio level. So it really was all about singing live on the stage. And what you hear, a lot of it is what they got. If there was a big mistake that happened, you’re going to hear it on the stage, you know, in the TV show itself.”

Executive producer Izzie Pick Ibarra said that putting mics in the masks was a challenge: “Some of the masks were very echoey, so we would have to put foam inside so the sound didn’t sound so echoey. We had a lot of audio testing that we did with the masks beforehand. But, as Craig was saying, they all sung live and they had one shot at it.”

Plestis was asked a second time if any vocal effects were used, and he avoided the question by mentioning background singers.

That’s when Nick Cannon stepped in and basically said, yes, the performances are enhanced:

“You gave a good example about the song ‘I Gotta Feeling.’ If you listen to the original version, the way it was produced, it has a lot of auto tune and a lot of effects in it.

So the choices that a lot of the acts get to make with their songs kind of lend themselves to it. I mean, there’s certain songs, especially nowadays, every song has auto tune it.

So if you want to be accurate and sound good and sound like the song, you’re going to have the vocal effects.

So we had a great team of producers and mixers that kind of made them sound exactly or as close to the record as possible.”

Why are the judges so bad at guessing?

While the judges’ poor guesses (Meghan Markle, Lady Gaga) have been dreadful, Wednesday’s episode seemed like we’ve arrived at the point where even these judges are guessing plausibly.

Robin Thicke accurately guessed that Ricki Lake was Raven, noticing that she would put her hand over her heart while talking, just like she used to do on her talk show.

Thicke had similar rationale for guessing that Bee is Gladys Knight, focusing on the way she holds her microphone. Meanwhile, Jenny McCarthy guessed Donny Osmond is the peacock. Both of those seem to match Internet consensus and the clues.

But then there was also this: “What athlete has two teeth?” Nicole Scherzinger asked, thinking Monster’s costume was literal. So yes, their guesses can also still stink.

One reason is that the judges don’t have access to phones or computers to look up clues like we can, though Ken Jeong said that wouldn’t have helped him (“Even with three laptops, I still would not be able get anybody,” he joked).

However, they were given information by the producers—though it was not helpful, because it was about the animals and characters, not the masked singers. Robin Thicke said that producers “told us about what their mating habits are [and] what they eat. So I’m looking at information about peacocks instead of information about the stars themselves.”

Nicole Scherzinger said, “That stuff threw us off.”

Jenny McCarthy said that read too much into certain things because producers told the judges “to pay attention to everything, and sometimes you would over dissect” as a result.

But the most interesting reason I heard came from Robin Thicke, who basically said that they can’t hear well:

“There was this distance from the stage. We were behind. We were up on a riser. You couldn’t always hear the clues very well. Sometimes you couldn’t hear the voices very well unless the song was very broken down. So it took a few performances for some of us to catch our rhythm.”

That seems like something that should be fixed for next season, unless having embarrassing judges is intentional.

Are the judges embarrassed at how bad their guesses are?

Yes! Asked if they watch the show back and think, “What the heck was I thinking?”, the judges agreed.

Robin Thicke said “Sometimes our lack of information is very entertaining” and specifically said that his Judge Judy guess was a bad guess. “And I have a few more. I have a few more coming, terrible,” he said.

Later, he explained his rationale for saying “Judge Judy”:

“With all respect, I got a few right, but I also was the furthest off a handful of times. And if I get to the end and I have really no idea, I can’t pinpoint it, I might just throw out a name that might be humorous or might be over the top. But I was honestly completely lost. When I said Judge Judy, there was no other name that could even come in mind, so I just said, okay. How about Judge Judy? Let’s make it fun.”

Jenny McCarthy told critics that she’s dreading one reveal—though she expressed no embarrassment about the anti-vaccination stuff (please vaccinate your kids and yourself), but I digress:

“I have one coming up that is keeping me up at night because it’s in the last episode that I say. And the entire studio audience goes, ‘What?!’ and turns around and I’m still going, ‘Oh, my God. This still has to air.’

Ken Jeong said his failure to identify his own co-star “was possibly my favorite moment”:

“I’ve never seen my own panic attack being filmed before. Because Poodle with Margaret Cho, that was a genuine time I was stumped. And I remember I just did not want to repeat what Joel McHale was going to say. I was going to kind of double back. I didn’t want three or four judges saying the same thing. And there was a genuine panic that was left on air, like, ‘I I I I I – I’ –- I did not and I forgot who my guess was for Poodle, but that was possibly my favorite moment.”

Jenny McCarthy did make a good point that the producers and editors are including only the guesses they want viewers to hear. She said “we’re spewing out names constantly” and what ends up on screen “depends on what they choose.”

Do The Contestants On The Masked Singer Get Paid More Than

Will there be new judges next season?

I doubt it. When answering a question about ratings, Fox executive Rob Wade went out of his way to praise the judges:

“I think that’s been great, and I think that attests to a great product, a fantastic job, really, this panel has done. You’ve seen the way they’ve gelled, a fantastic job that Nick has done. It’s difficult sitting on a new panel and a bunch of producers saying, ‘Go. Have chemistry. Enjoy yourself.’ But I think, as the shows have gone on, you’ve seen these guys really grow into a family, and I think the viewers are responding to that.”

If Fox thinks that “viewers are responding to” the panel, I don’t think it’ll change, unless one or more of them decide not to return.

And Wade doubled down on his compliments for the judges later:

“From Nick to these four panelists, I think one of the things we looked for as well were just people who are fun, you want to go and have a drink with, who we felt would all get on and who are really going to work hard and love the show, and that’s what these guys do.

… I’m not just saying that as an executive, but it’s rare to find these days. It’s so rare that you can find a group of people out there who are just so passionate about a project, and they are brilliant.

“Brilliant” isn’t the word I’d use, but that’s just me.

Who designed the costumes, and who chose them?

The amazing and impressive and freaky costumes were designed by Marina Toybina, who has previously won Emmys for designing costumes on The X Factor, the Katy Perry Super Bowl halftime show (the one with Left Shark), and the 55th Grammy Awards.

She’s also designed costumes for World of Dance and So You Think You Can Dance, and has a large portfolio of other work.

Masked Singer executive producer Izzie Pick Ibarra told TV critics that the process involved Toybina, the network, and the singers:

“We kind of together, collectively with FOX, came up with a kind of wide selection of characters—types, whether they were animals, insects, birds. And we then basically had those sketched out.

And then the singers could look—could choose from a whole selection of different costumes and look choose the one that spoke to them most.

Or they could choose and ask for something bespoke, which some of them did as well.”

Do The Contestants On The Masked Singer Get Paid People

The costumes will change for season two, so there won’t be a new singer in Monster’s costume, for example.

Do The Contestants On The Masked Singer Get Paid The Most

How did the unmasking work?

Before the singer is unmasked, they get to make sure they’ll look good on camera.

“I did get to have hair and makeup beforehand,” Ricki Lake told TV critics.

Ricki said that “the audience was there for the reveal,” but that audience was different for the unmasking.

Executive producer Craig Plestis explained:

“On the production side, everyone had to sign a NDA. Everyone who came to the set, who were in the audience, they had to sign NDAs.

And when we actually had the unmasking, it was the audience itself was mainly composed of friends and family.

We asked everyone also involved on the show, when this was taping, “You are here for something special. This is our first time we are taping it. We hope you keep it quiet. You can tweet and talk about it the day it airs after the unmasking, but you are part of our family now, and we’d ask you to please keep this a secret.”

It’s really hard this day and age, but we can confiscate phones. We did try every kind of piece of lawyer paper possible as well.”

What will change for season two?

It’s not clear yet, but it does seem as though Fox will be making changes. Perhaps none as drastic as the five major changes I’ve proposed, however.

Executive producer Izzie Pick Ibarra told TV critics that “we had a lot of production processes in place for the kind of secrecy that still can remain in place” for a second season, and she said, “I feel confident that we can keep” it secret.

Her fellow EP, Craig Plestis, joked, “There’s going to be a lot more security, though, for the second season. We have contacted the Pentagon already.”

Fox’s Rob Wade said that “we are going into production immediately,” but they’re considering what’s working—and what’s broken and how to fix it:

“We are starting to look every week we start to look at different elements of the show, how the audience is reacting, what’s working, what isn’t working and these guys have been working really hard and to see what changes we can make to season 2.

I think the difference between a scripted show and an unscripted show is an unscripted show, the first season, you really don’t quite know what you are doing. You are playing it from your guts and your heart.”

As to casting, that can’t happen until the production schedule is set, and Fox hasn’t yet decided when to bring the show back for season two.

Wade said they’ll be waiting for the end of the season before deciding when, exactly, it’ll return:

“We do have three or four weeks left, though, and I think we want to see how the audience reacts to that. And then we’ll get together as a big team internally and speak to the producers and really figure out the optimum time to bring it back, because it’s obviously been a big hit and it’s a very important asset to us at Fox.”

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