The Masked Singer has been a ratings winner for Fox ever since the wacky show debuted in early 2019. Fans are enthralled on a weekly basis by the elaborate costumes, (sometimes very strong) performances by the celebrity competitors and the clues which are supposed to help us guess who's being hidden as they sing (and sometimes dance around) on stage. Every season, viewers have their favorite contestants that they'd like to support, and now a big change is coming to the show for the fall season which will help some fans do exactly that.
Production has now officially begun on Season 4 of The Masked Singer, with the series still set to air this fall. The show's production designer, James Pearse Connelly, recently spoke about how they're hoping to keep the momentum going by continuing to up their game in the new season, and there's one major change coming which should certainly help the celebrity singing competition do that, and make some fans very happy. According to Variety, Season 4 will now be the first season to let member of the home audience vote on their favorite performers.
Apparently, a group of "Super Fans" will be chosen by those behind the The Masked Singer to become a part of its "Virtual Audience." These viewers will then be able to watch from the comfort of their homes and vote for the performers they believe should get to stay in the competition. All of those votes will then be added up virtually, and taken into account along with the judge votes from Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Robin Thicke, and Nicole Scherzinger in order to crown the winner of Season 4.
In previous seasons, home viewers of The Masked Singer were totally left out of the actual competition, aside from being able to live-tweet opinions and guesses to clues as the shows aired. While many reality competitions, like American Idol or The Voice, air at least some of their episodes live each season, The Masked Singer is pre-taped (likely to help keep the identity of its celebrity contestants a secret) for the entire season. So, there's really been no way to have the home audience vote en masse and help determine who would come back for the next episode.
In the olden times, (you know, before our current health crisis) the studio audience was tasked with helping the judges decide who would get to move on in the competition, as they all had electronic keypads at their seats which would allow them to vote for their favorite performance of the night. But, the production is now faced with either having no studio audience or one which will be significantly reduced in size due to safety concerns, so this would seem to be a way to make up for the loss of those votes.
The Masked Singer has managed to keep fans engaged without the ability for any of them to vote on performances for three whole seasons, so this added benefit will likely do a lot to keep them interested in Season 4. There's no word right now on how many viewers will be chosen to vote or how producers will go about selecting them, but it would seem that they'd make an effort to make sure all or most of the missing studio audience votes can be handled by people watching at home this season.
Right now, The Masked Singer doesn't have a set return date, so be sure to stay tuned to CinemaBlend to see exactly when it will hit Fox this fall. In the meantime, check out our guide to fall TV, to see what else will be coming up in the next few weeks!
