The History of the Masked Dancer
You are probably familiar with the famed “Masked universe” term we use online. As you may know by now The Masked Dancer is part of this universe. It’s derived from the South Korean show The Masked Singer but do you know it’s full history?
Just a week after The Masked Singer’s premiere, the famous daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres introduced a spoof segment of The Masked Singer on its show. The first time it appeared on The Ellen show was in January 2019.
In this spoof segment, mystery celebrities appeared in the show wearing head to toe costumes. Some of the celebrities included in the spoofed segment were Sean Hayes, Ken Jeong, Howie Mandel, Derek Hough, and Colton Underwood.
Inspired by the spoofed version of the show on Ellen DeGeneres’s daytime show…
After the spoof’s success, Fox channel decided to launch it in an American reality competition with the name “The Masked Dancer.” On January 7, 2020, the network announced that there’d be a full version of the show produced by Ellen DeGeneres.
Considering her experience producing the spoofed version on her daytime talk show, she was chosen to serve as the show’s executive producer. The network could have proceeded, but Ellen was passionate about the show, so the network chose her for the role. While she isn’t physically present in the show supposedly she does make some decisions on it.
The show was supposed to be filmed in March 2020 to air during the summer, the pandemic had different plans. The show was shelved in hopes for it to make the fall schedule.
Once the pandemic showed a little bit of ease and serious medical hoops were met they were able to film the show.
The show follows the same format as in The Masked Singer…
The show’s format is the same as we saw in The Masked Singer. In every episode, all contestants would perform wearing their costumes. After ending the performance, the panelists would guess the celebrity under the mask with clues given to them. The contestant receiving the fewest votes from the fans, and the panelists kept eliminated from the show.
One contestant from each team will perform, and as the show will progress, there will be three finalists in the finale.
Currently, there are 10 participants in The Masked Dancer that are divided into two teams. Each team has 5 members. The name of the celebrities performing in the show is unknown because its secrecy is the essence of the show.
Where Is It Filmed?
The show is filmed on the same set where The Masked Singer was filmed. The show was filmed in Los Angeles at Red Studios. The filming didn’t start until October 2020 following the filming of The Masked Singer season 4.
It aired on Fox on December 27, 2020. It will be completed in 9 episodes, but the show producers aim to increase the number of episodes in the future.
The Masked Singer was a major hit for Fox. Its last two seasons were the highest-rated nonsports programs broadcasted on any US television channel.
The Masked Dancer is expected to be a hit just like The Masked Singer and the show’s spoofed version.