The fourth season of the American television series The Masked Singer premiered on Fox on September 23, 2020, following a sneak peek episode that aired on September 13,[1][2] and concluded on December 16, 2020. The season was won by singer LeAnn Rimes as "Sun", with singer Aloe Blacc finishing second as "Mushroom", and singer Nick Carter placing third as "Crocodile".
Nick Cannon, singer-songwriter Robin Thicke, television and radio personality Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, actor and comedian Ken Jeong, and recording artist Nicole Scherzinger all returned for their fourth season as host and panelists.[3][4] Following controversial statements made on his podcast, it was confirmed that Cannon would remain as host of the show, after Fox accepted his apology.[5]
The panelists also engaged in a competition for the Golden Ear in this season. After each masked singer performed for the first time along with an initial clue package, each panelist wrote their first impressions-based guess at the identity of the celebrity and kept in a safe until the men in black are instructed to bring it out upon a contestant's elimination. Those guesses were revealed after each celebrity was unmasked, with panelist scoring a point for each celebrity they got correct from their initial first impression, with the panelist with the most correct answers winning the Golden Ear.[7] Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg won the first Golden Ear for getting the most guesses correct.[8]
Production
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, various industry-adopted safety protocols were implemented for production (as well as a change in location from Television City to Red Studios Hollywood), which included that the tapings to have a virtual audience, and that the judging panel would be 8 feet apart from each other. Fox Alternative Entertainment president Rob Wade said that the show would still "feel very much like" past seasons, having employed "various quarantining and various camera tricks" to preserve the visible presence of a studio audience.[9]
Executive producer Craig Plestis stated that a goal for season four's costumes was to "increase the bonkers level and keep the production values up". A "virtual audience" was incorporated into voting.[9] To accommodate social distancing, many of the clue packages used animation by Bento Box Entertainment, the studio behind Bob's Burgers as opposed to live-action filming typically used for their clue packaging.[10]
Contestants
The season featured 16 contestants,[10] including "Snow Owls" wearing the first duet costume with its own vehicle,[11] the first costume to have animatronic parts ("Serpent"), and the first puppet costume ("Baby Alien"). The contestants in this season are reported to have a combined net worth over $398 million, 46 Grammy nominations, 23 platinum records, 10 Hall of Fame appearances, and one Olympic gold medal, to collectively have sold over 281 million records, appeared in over 5,475 episodes of television and 151 films, made five Super Bowl appearances, have four stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, hold three world records, one Time 100 honor, and one Oscar nomination in a major category.[12][13]
The masked singer won with their performance and remained in the competition.
The masked singer was in the bottom two, but was not eliminated.
The masked singer was safe from elimination.
The masked singer was eliminated from the competition and unmasked.
The masked singer did not perform.
The masked singer unmasked themselves and left the competition.
The celebrities who competed in the fourth season of The Masked Singer, pictured in order of elimination (L–R):
Busta Rhymes ("Dragon"),Mickey Rourke ("Gremlin"),Brian Austin Green ("Giraffe"),Mark Sanchez ("Baby Alien"),Wendy Williams ("Lips"),Bob Saget ("Squiggly Monster"),Clint and Lisa Hartman Black ("Snow Owls"),Lonzo Ball ("Whatchamacallit"),Paul Anka ("Broccoli"),Taylor Dayne ("Popcorn"),Chloe Kim ("Jellyfish"),Tori Kelly ("Seahorse"),Nick Carter ("Crocodile"),Aloe Blacc ("Mushroom"), and LeAnn Rimes ("Sun")
^ abPrior to the unmasking, Nick Cannon had to enlist the Snow Owls' dancers to "hatch" them out of their egg vehicle for a final clue to their identity.
^Rourke, after completing his performance in costume and while being interviewed by Cannon, complained about how hot it was in the costume and proceeded to unmask himself before the judges could vote, eliminating himself from the competition.[15]
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