The Masked Singer: secrets about the show the whole world watches

'The Masked Singer' never fails to create some incredible social media hype and discussion as well as provide a throughly entertaining show. What’s possibly most surprising for many is the calibre of the celebrities that jump in these wild costumes - and the lengths they will go to protect their identity. But, aside from the celebrities’ names, there are many things we didn’t know about the Masked singer. Read on to find out more.

Photo: ITV

In the early days of ‘The Masked Singer’, the height of the contestants was revealed. The producers of the show quickly realised that it’s a huge giveaway for fans to guess who’s behind the mask. Of course, now the costumes are so obscure that the person inside them could be any shape or size - thus creating even more mystery.

Photo: ITV

The original idea actually came from a South Korean show, called ‘King of Mask Singer’ that was aired on a Sunday evening in 2015. In the first round of the South Korean show, all contestants sang the same song then the second round they could chose their all important solo performances.

Photo: Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation

The success was so widespread in South Korea, they even released an album with the studio recordings. And had a few very surprising celebrity reveals of their own…

Photo: Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation

Ryan Reynolds was revealed as one of the celebrities making an appearance on the South Korean show, stopping off on the set for his 2018 promotional tour of Deadpool 2. In true Ryan Reynolds fashion, he dressed as a unicorn with a cape and belted out ‘Tomorrow’ from the musical, ‘Annie’.

Photo: Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation

Of course, one of the things that makes this show so successful is the element of surprise. You won’t believe the efforts that go into protecting the identity of these celebrities. In fact, all celebrities who appear on the show must sign a non disclosure agreement. If they absolutely have to tell a close loved one - they have to sign up to the secrecy, too.

Photo: ITV

The show has some top secret rules that would rival James Bond’s missions! Contestants have to wear masks on set, even when they're not performing, to hide their identities from staff and fellow contestants.

Photo: ITV

The secret of identity is golden. So much so that the production team decided to invest a lot of dollar in providing different locations for the contestants to rehearse. They also arrived on the set at different times throughout the filming. It’s an almost military operation.

Photo: Fox

Nowadays, celebrities are followed everywhere - and anyone from their security detail to agents to stylists can now often be recognised thanks to social media information. Nothing slips through the net at ‘The Masked Singer’ and even the celebrities’ entourages need to hide themselves and put on masks.

Photo: ITV

Aside from the celebrity themselves and their team, only 6 people on set actually know who is behind the mask. That’s right, only 6 people out of the 250 or so members of production staff. They even wear special T-shirts on set so the celebrities know they can speak with them.

Photo: ITV

The audience on average sees about 500 people in the studio (aside from the 2021 series that obviously saw a socially-distanced audience). Hot o they minimise the spoilers leaking? They kick out most of them before the celebrity does their big reveal. Only about 30 or so are able to stay and find out who is behind the mask before the rest of the world does.

Photo: Fox

Scheduling conflicts are a common issue for celebrities, especially ones as prominent as those who go on The Masked Singer. As a result, some of the filming is done with stand-ins. As former contestant Joey Fatone told E Online: "When you see the clues, that wasn’t me in the costume. The voice was me, but the costume was not."

Photo: Fox

In order to keep a level playing-field for all the contestants (and, once again, to minimise spoilers) the celebrities are not given any vocal training. Some are professional singers and some are not. That’s just the name of the game.

Photo: Fox

Costume designer Tim Simpson explained to HuffPost that there are 45 on the costume team and they all have “a whole range of different skills”.
"We’ve got sculptors who are sculpting the masks, we’ve got tailors, we’ve got people who can flock and who can paint and who can pattern cut and work in foams."
"There’s also metalwork going into the costumes, there’s electronics – not to mention the team that just organise everything and the logistics of buying all the materials in."

The costumes are oftentimes heavy, hot and uncomfortable for performance. Thinking about where the producers have seen this before, they remembered Disney world and the rules in place there. "The stars were only allowed in their costumes for 20 minutes," executive producers told The Sun. "We took inspiration from Disney… We ended up being quite strict about it. You don’t want celebrities in costumes going crazy all over the place."

Photo: ITV

The Darkness' Justin Hawkins, who dressed as Chameleon, had said he found it very difficult to sing in his costume, according to Hello! Even worse, Nicola Roberts, as Queen Bee, was suffering with claustrophobia while dressed in her costume. The costumes are heavy and sweaty - meaning the celebrities get a hair and makeup touch-up before the big reveal...