It looks set to be one of the weirdest programmes ever to debut on British television – and this is from the country that brought you Hole in the Wall.
Yes, The Masked Singer is about to blast its way onto our screens after garnering huge success in South Korea, America and Australia.
The premise of the show sees 12 celebrities don ridiculous, extravagant, and bewildering disguises to sing while our panel of judges have to try and guess who is behind the mask.
And the makers behind the singing show, which is two parts Black Mirror and one part Stars in Their Eyes, have gone out of their way to ensure that the celebrities’ identities are not leaked out to the general public before the show launches on 4th January.
Explaining how identities were kept under wraps, host Joel Dommett explained at The Masked Singer press day: “We filmed this in Bovingdon and it was 500 or so people and we film the whole show like we just saw – then we had to get rid of the audience.”
“You can imagine how happy they were, travelling all the way up to Bovingdon!” judge Johnathan Ross joked. “They were told beforehand so they were cool about it. But that’s the level of the secrecy. It blew my mind.”
Dommett continued only about 30 members of the audience were allowed to stay and see the big reveal – and a total of six people of production knew all the names of the celebrities involved.
“When we took on this job, we assumed we’d all know,” he said. “We all thought we’d be told under the table, but there was none of that. It blew my mind.”
It seems our celebrities aren’t taking any chances either – with some of our famous faces only hoping to reveal their part on The Masked Singer after the song goes live.
“Someone on the show told me the only person that knew was essentially their agent and them – they hadn’t told their kids or parents,” Dommett said. “So they’re so excited to watch the TV and for their kids to find out as their watching the TV.”
The Masked Singer launches Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th January 2020 on ITV
from Radio Times https://ift.tt/2QzhiV0
