The Masked Singer Australia is returning this year for another season of musical mystery with a brand-new cast of mysterious masks with faces behind them that have been promised to make headlines.
On September 11, at 7:30 pm on 10 and 10 Play, the all-star guessing panel returns to play the guessing game with the rest of Australia and figure out which celebrities are hiding behind iconic costumes and masks.
Guessers Mel B, Chrissie Swan and Abbie Chatfield will take in the cryptic clues and hints to figure out the famous face behind the mask while Dave Hughes will be there for the ride and try his best.
Mediaweek chatted to Tamara Simoneau, head of lifestyle programs at Paramount ANZ about the new season, what value the guessers bring to the show and what goes into keeping the singer’s identity a secret.
Tamara Simoneau
The Next Level
Simoneau discussed how this season ups the ante in terms of the vocals and while clues will be present, 2023’s iteration promises the most surprising reveal ever.
“We’ve got a cast full of more powerhouse singers than we’ve ever had before on The Masked Singer Australia,” she said.
“People are really going to get their socks blown off.”
While a traditional talent program includes a panel of judges, judging one’s performance to see whether they will go through to the next round, The Masked Singer’s ‘judges’ are called ‘expert guessers’, and they return this season after their debut together last year.
“They have a great dynamic,” said Simoneau. “They’re all such pros in their fields and they have this lovely instant chemistry.
“Coming back together again, after a year away has just been so sweet because they just jumped straight in where they left off, like no time had passed, and they just have this great banter.
“The girls like to gang up on Hughesy a bit, but he can cop it, he loves it deep down. The girls are shocked when he gets things right, and he got one right last year, which he was very proud of. He might be on the money again a couple of times this season, which again, shows that he’s improving.”
Behind The Scenes
While viewers and the expert guessers have the treat of playing the guessing game, Simoneau explains that behind the scenes, there is an entire back end of the show that is top-secret.
“There is so much that goes into preventing leaks and keeping the identities of the singers a secret on the show,” she said.
“There’s a handful of people who know who’s behind the mask at any given time and that doesn’t really change all the way from when we do the casting. We do that behind closed doors and on headsets and it’s just a handful of people that whole time.
“Then the net widens slightly as we go into production because of necessity with bringing in bodyguards etc.”
She also explains that during the casting process, a big dot point on the checklist is trust.
“We have to be able to go, alright, are we trusting this person with this great, huge secret that they’re going to have to keep for however, many months or weeks, then once we check that off, we let them in.”
Pictured left to right: Chrissie Swan, Abbie Chatfield, Mel B and Dave Hughes
The new season of masked mystery will see 10 brand new costumes and masks come in at the beginning of the competition, and after that, some wildcards will be thrown in that haven’t been seen before.
“I think everybody loves a good guessing game, right? People are so happy when they can guess and get it right. If you’re really tuned into the game and tuned into all the clues and really doing your research, the payoff of being able to say ‘I told you so’ is just brilliant,” she said.
“This season, while we have our base guessing game, we want to go beyond just getting who’s behind the mask and we want to keep our audiences guessing at every moment, in terms of what’s going to happen next on the actual show. There’s more surprises than people might think, and that has me quite excited.”
The Masked Singer Australia premieres Monday, September 11 at 7:30 pm on 10 and 10 Play.
See also: Melody Thornton claims the crown on The Masked Singer 2022