How does Fox’s The Masked Singer season 12 work? Format, rules, and more explored

The Masked Singer season 12 will premiere on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, on FOX. The Masked Singer features various big celebrities as they perform cover songs and dances while hiding their true identity through costumes.

The format for season 12 hasn't been revealed yet. During season 11, the celebrity contestants were divided into groups of three. Singers in each group competed against each other through various rounds, and only one of them moved to the semi-finals.

Each season of The Masked Singer features a new batch of celebrities singing under their mask. Four to six contestants perform a 90-second cover song in each episode.

After a masked celebrity's performance, a "clue package" for the singer is shown. The clue package contains various hints and a celebrity's electronically muffled voice narrating a video, potentially pointing at who the famous contestant might be.

After examining the clue package, the panelists are asked to guess the celebrity's identity. The panelists can ask questions, and the host will provide additional hints to pinpoint their guesses.

After all the performances, the panelists and the audience are asked to vote for their favorite contestant of the night. 50% of votes from judges and 50% from the audience are combined to form the ultimate results. The contestant with the least votes is eliminated and has to take off their mask and reveal their identity. The eliminated celebrity then has to perform an encore without their mask.

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Fox's The Masked Singer format over the seasons

To keep things interesting, The Masked Singer changes its format with the new seasons and introduces new rules to the singing game show. The Smackdown round was featured in most seasons. In this round, two celebrities with the least votes perform one after the other, and one of them is eliminated after a second voting round.

After season 1 of The Masked Singer, the producers started to divide the contestants into a particular number of groups. The contestants were scheduled to perform within their sub-groups. FOX's singing show introduced the Golden Ear trophy in the fourth season. The panelist who gets the most correct first guess of the singer by the end of the season was awarded the trophy.

Season 11 brought back the Wildcard contestants and the Ding Dong Keep It On bell. The Wildcard rule allowed the show to drop wildcard contestants in the middle of each round. On the other hand, the Ding Dong Keep It On bell allowed the judges to save one eliminated contestant.

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The panelists on The Masked Singer format

The Masked Singer's show format is based on a South Korean show called King of Mask Singer. King of Mask Singer was introduced in 2019 by Mun Hwa Broadcasting Corp. The Korean show focused more on the vocal singing aspect of the show, while its American counterpart focused on unmasking the celebrity.

While talking to E! News in January 2019, panelist Robin Thicke talked about the format of the show. He said he liked the fact that well-known celebrities were performing under masks.

"What I really like about it is that it's really the only whodunit — or whosangit — show on television and the fact that it's all well-known celebrities. … So the people under the mask are really the star of the show."

In the same interview, another panelist member Jenny McCarthy, said that celebrities pick their masked alter egos, and it helps the panelist members guess who that celebrity might be. McCarthy said:

"Every celebrity gets to pick their alter ego of who they want to be, and that's how we try to figure out … who they are, based on their costumes, based on their film clues and also their performances."

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The Masked Singer season 12 will premiere on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, on FOX.