The Masked Singer Australia 2023 has started off with a bang and back for his fifth season is host Osher Günsberg who has revealed why fans keep coming back for more.
During an interview with Mediaweek right before the season premiere, the 10 stalwart admitted that while deciphering the cryptic clues was certainly a drawcard, the real attraction for audiences is the sense of “tension” and “release”.
“It’s right up there with the simplest of all of all games,” Günsberg said, likening it to a game of Snap. “It’s tension and release. And that’s what the show is. It’s just waiting for the reveal – it just happens to have gigantic three-metre-tall popcorn machines, amazing suits and an LED mask that looks like it could be in Daft Punk. It’s freaking cool man.”
Continuing, the Gold Logie nominee admitted that it’s the “moment of discovery that matters”.
“So it could be, ‘I don’t know who that is’ or ‘Oh, I was wrong’. It doesn’t matter. Finding out is the [most important] part.”
Osher Günsberg with Abbie Chatfield, Chrissie Swan, Mel B and Dave Hughes. 10
Osher Günsberg on the “most surprising reveal ever”
During the first episode, 90s heartthrob Brian Austin Green was unmasked, which has left us questioning: Who else is under the elaborate Tim Chappel costumes?
“It’s an extraordinary season,” Günsberg said of the next stars to be unveiled. “Any relationship that you’re in, whether it be a friendship or a romantic relationship or relationship with the kids, it’s important that you grow and adapt and reinvent that relationship and refresh it, and make sure that it’s still meeting your needs for both of you.
“The same goes for our relationship with our audience. It’s super important to make sure you give enough of what it is that you came here for in the first place, but also enough to be like, here’s a little thing that you keep fresh now.”
According to The Bachelors Australia host, “this is one of the most emotionally intense shows” he’s ever been a part of.
“That includes the one where people fall in love and get married and have lots of babies,” he joked. “It is such an extraordinarily emotional season because of who the people under the mask are and what they mean to us.”
Clarifying, he said: “If your super favourite — I can say it because he’s done the American one — say Taylor Hanson pops his head off. Suddenly, if you’re of a certain age, you are a teenager [again]. ‘Oh my god, I used to kiss that poster every night’, or if you’re another age, you might say, ‘Oh my god, I used to hate that band.’ So it’s quite a powerful one.”
Brian Austin Green as Crash Test Dummy. Ten
Osher Günsberg on the secrecy behind the masks
While we’re itching for a new reveal each episode, it turns out Günsberg had the same level of knowledge that the fans do.
“It is so watertight and they won’t tell me what happens or how they do it because I will tell people,” he said of the secrecy behind the masks. “I just know that they show up in a mask and if it’s too big for them to walk onto the stage, they’re wearing like an Obi-Wan Kenobi kind of cloak but with a huge hood over the top with a panel that they can see out of.
“You can’t see in, you can’t see their hands. They wear gloves all the way down. You can’t see their body shape or whatever. And it’s only maybe five metres that I see that person walking by if I see them at all.”
He continued: “I know who they all are now because we’ve shot it, so I know all the answers, but I didn’t [during filming]. When the heads come off, I’m legitimately quite thrilled that it’s happening. It’s a genuine moment of surprise and I’m grateful for it.”
The Masked Singer Australia continues Monday at 7.30 pm on 10 And 10 Play.