The Masked Singer UK is recording next month

By | August 8, 2019

At Bovingdon Airfield, near Hemel Hempstead. Tickets SRO.

Now I *thought* the idea was to do this live (like the very successful German one) as a stripped show early next year, but evidently this isn’t going to be the case. I hope the long lead time won’t lead to accidental – or otherwise – spoilers, I note it’s unlikely the audience will be around for the unveilings, although it does mean they’d have to be pretty careful in referencing past contestants in any host-led intros.

Of course we also apparently have Celeb X Factor to come this autumn. One of the interesting things about The Masked Singer as a format is that it manages to avoid D-List-never-heard-of-them sniping from the audience that tends to happen when the line-ups are released as by the time they’re unmasked it’s too late, you’ve watched anyway, and you’ve probably decided whether you’re going to stick around for the rest quite early.

Of course, the hilarious thing is (especially after the comment in the Stool Pigeon earlier this week) is that ITV have already flirted with this sort of thing before – just 18 months ago they did a one-off called Guess the Star, a concept that had been knocking around for a while. The comments, in hindsight, are amusing (“If it was a bit weirder it could have come out of South Korea,” an astute Brig Bother).

16 thoughts on “The Masked Singer UK is recording next month

  1. Brig Bother Post author

    Just searching for Guess the Star on BB, it looks like I referenced it as early as 2011. I think it was something they piloted, didn’t like, then had another go at years later.

    Reply
    1. Chris M. Dickson

      Overtly Jenny Ryan, as evidenced by Let’s Sing and Dance for Comic Relief. Brig said that he recently was interviewed by her and Lucy Porter for Fingers on Buzzers, so I have no doubt that he accosted Jenny directly about the prospect of The Masked Singer, even though his question and her answer will surely never make the forecast. But surely you might be able to get very good odds on individuals winning The Masked Singer before their participation has already been confirmed.

      (Also, looking at the comments to which you refer, am I astute? I am certainly stout.)

      Reply
      1. Philip

        Isn’t Jenny hotly rumoured for Celebrity X Factor this autumn?

        Reply
  2. Danny Kerner

    I’m surprised if Gemma Collins hasn’t had the phone call since she can apparently sing.

    Reply
    1. David B

      Sorry to crash the thread, but they’ve had some well-cast female guests on the last series of I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue (Mash Report’s Rachel Parris, and improviser Pippa Evans) who turned in some barnstorming performances in the music rounds.

      Reply
  3. Gyro Scope

    A shame its not going to be live – this really made the German one a lot more interesting with the duels and public phone voting. How will this work – just the studio audience deciding? Seems a lot less immediate.

    I’ve really enjoyed watching the German one, even if I’d only heard of two of the celebrities (though probably more than I’ll know in the UK one to be fair if the strictly line up is anything to go). Another part of the success of the German one rested on the celebrity panel – Ruth Moschner is excellent in anything she appeared and Max Giesinger turned out to be good fun. I dread to think who ITV will drudge out!

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      I think if there’s a show where the danger of being live and possibly going wrong is going to add to the experience, it’s this! People watching because it could go wrong, but lots of applause if they pull it off. For me it’s a no-brainer.

      Reply
  4. Brig Bother Post author

    Of course the other thing re: The Masked Singer is that Wild Things on Sky was doing the mystery-out-of-costumed-contestants thing really well years ago. The future is here, and it’s overrun with furries.

    Reply
  5. Brig Bother Post author

    Watched Mastermind for the first time in years tonight. Have the questions always had such lengthy preambles?

    Reply
    1. Des Elmes

      Very good things about the new-look, Belfast-produced ‘Mind:

      * The original version of “Approaching Menace” is back!! YES!!!!! πŸ˜€

      * The needless practices from last series of having each contender leave the studio after their specialist round, and reminding only the viewers of the scores before the GK rounds, have been ditched. DOUBLE YES!!!!! πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ (As I said back in April, these two practices were the ones I wanted undone more than any of the others.)

      Fairly good things:

      * The new black-and-white set. Some may give out about the circle ‘M’ logos, but I’ve seen far worse.

      * No proper title sequence – just the lights of the set coming on one-by-one in time with the theme. (Early Magnus Era series didn’t have a proper title sequence; later ones did.)

      Not-so-good things:

      * The retention of the “line of death” around the contestant’s score as the round ends (albeit changed from blue to black), along with the accompanying burst of theme. Back in April, I said that it was more thrilling when the contender was closing in on a winning score and you weren’t sure when the beep-beep-beep would come. If the “line of death” absolutely *had* to stay, however, then I wouldn’t have any kind of musical accompaniment.

      * Not sure, either, about playing another burst of the theme when the contender leaves the chair. This certainly has the potential to annoy – and you do *not* want the original version of “Approaching Menace” to annoy more than it pleases (or, indeed, scares).

      Things on which I’m neutral:

      * Generous use of Impact font, which will always be more strongly associated with the Weakest Link. (Curiously, they’re still using Eurostile for the scores.)

      * Each contender’s walk to the chair accompanied by the theme’s opening beats (doesn’t have *quite* as much potential to annoy as the burst of theme when they’re leaving the chair, IMO).

      * The GK rounds still being 30 seconds longer than the specialist rounds (it *has* been that way for quite some time now, after all).

      * The post-game interview with the winner.

      Overall: not a bad job at all by Hat Trick and Hindsight. They stated that they planned to return the ‘Mind to its roots – and I think they’ve done just that, while still taking it forward.

      Reply

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