The Masked Singer is fast-approaching the Season 7 finale next month, and the competition is stiff with some music legends already eliminated, as well as some icons in pop culture like Penn and Teller. It’s still anybody’s game, but fans may not always see everything that went down while episodes were filming. The show sometimes edits the reactions of the audience and the judges to complete the viewing experience, even though it’s not exactly what happened during and immediately after the performances. As it turns out, Fox has a pair of valid reasons for the edits.
And those reasons are actually included at the end of episodes, although fans might not notice due to the excitement of the eliminated celebrities giving their final performances and judges Ken Jeong, Robin Thicke, Nicole Scherzinger, and Jenny McCarthy still reacting to whether or not their guesses were correct. (In the case of Jeong, the guesses are usually hilariously incorrect, as you can see with a rewatch via a Hulu subscription.) One disclaimer reads:
Portions of the Program not affecting the outcome have been edited and/or recreated.
The show does edit some of what happened on set for what is actually broadcast in episodes, but not in a way that actually affects what happened, and presumably often for the sake of time. The Masked Singer is not broadcast live like other singing and talent competitions, like NBC’s American Song Contest and later episodes in seasons of The Voice and America’s Got Talent, so edits to the final product aren’t surprising.
In fact, AGT revealed something similar during pre-taped episodes of Season 16, with a disclaimer that visuals of the audience included real shots, virtual shots, and shots from past seasons for creative purposes that didn’t impact the outcome of the judging. This was due to the complications of returning to production under COVID protocols, and the second Masked Singer disclaimer that runs at the end of episodes reveals something similar as a cause for edits to the finished product:
Due to health restrictions, visuals of audience featured in this episode included shots from past seasons. The use of these visuals was for creative purposes only and did not impact the actual audience voting and outcome.
It’s not clear at this point how Fox chooses what kinds of visuals from past seasons to insert into episodes for creative purposes, but it’s safe to say that the real in-person audience experience doesn’t 100% match the viewing experience for fans watching from home. The show has clearly found a formula that works, as The Masked Singer is consistently a winner in the ratings. There were rumors of drama on set when it comes to one unmasking, and that drama may or may not make the finished product when that episode airs in an already-dramatic Season 7.
For now, you can look forward to new episodes of The Masked Singer on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. The Season 7 finale is scheduled for Wednesday, May 18, so be sure not to miss an episode in the coming weeks. To recap who has been cut from the season so far, check out our updated rundown of all the Masked Singer Season 7 eliminations so far.
