THE MASKED DANCER Team Previews TV’s Newest Guessing Game

After four seasons of THE MASKED SINGER, THE MASKED universe expands on Fox with the new series THE MASKED DANCER.

Much like SINGER, DANCER finds masked contestants dancing for a panel (in this case, Ken Jeong, Paula Abdul, Brian Austin Green, and Ashley Tisdale; Craig Robinson serves as the host) while dropping vague clues about their true identity. (The contestants, per Fox, have more than 38 million albums sold worldwide, 20 Emmy Award wins, 20 Grammy Award nominations, 10 World Dancing titles, five New York Times Best-Selling Author titles, four Olympic gold medals and three Broadway show appearances.)

And while SINGER has had varying levels of difficulty, THE MASKED DANCER is “harder—this show is harder,” Green, who recently competed on SINGER, told reporters during a recent press conference. “The clue packages, there’s a lot more information in them. There’s a different way of viewing this show than SINGER and sort of a different focus for people to put on what it is they are watching.”

Added Abdul, “You have to pay a lot of attention to the clues, because we don’t have a voice to base it on. And the clues came everywhere, from within the costume, lots of clues in the package, even in the stage setting and choreography. It was incredible.
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Once they got into the rhythm of the show, “understanding of what we were looking for and what made sense,” Green acknowledged, “then the show was really fun. It was really fun for us and hopefully really fun for people watching.”

However, Abdul may have been a little too good at guessing. “She watched this one clue package of a contestant…and immediately pinpointed, going, ‘Okay. I know that voice. They are walking in a pigeon toe. I know who that is. It’s X,'” executive producer Craig Plestis recalled. “And I go, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ [Executive producer] James [Breen] and myself were floored: ‘She figured it out in literally five seconds. How can she do the show? She’s going to ruin it for everyone.'”

But with dozens of SINGER contestants already in the MASKED family, might a contestant reappear?

“There are even some known singers [on this show] that probably wouldn’t be on THE MASKED SINGER, because their voice is so identifiable,” Abdul teased.

“There’s no set rules that we have—anyone can appear underneath the mask,” Plestis added. “We do really try to keep it fresh each time…Anything can happen on in the MASKED universe.”

THE MASKED DANCER, Series Premiere, Sunday, December 27, 8/7c, Fox

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• THE MASKED DANCER: Craig Robinson Set as Host
• Fox Orders THE MASKED DANCER

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