On Monday, September 14 The Masked Singer Australia grand finale will air on 10 and 10 Play as the Queen, Frillneck and Bushranger will belt it out one last time.
The Masked Singer successfully brought in two judges from out of the country – Dannii Minogue returning for a second year and newcomer Urzila Carlson – and had them complete a fortnight’s quarantine before production started. Returning host Jackie Henderson relocated from her Sydney home while for Melbourne-based Dave Hughes it was a short commute from his home and radio show this year for him to fulfill his duties.
The panel of judges will have one last chance to decipher who is singing behind the final contestants.
Network 10 executive producer and head of entertainment Stephen Tate told Mediaweek six weeks ago they were heading off on a journey to film the 2020 season in Melbourne – it turned out to be a lot more than he and all involved bargained for.
See also: How Network 10 avoided lockdown to make new The Masked Singer
Tate and most of the NSW crew that relocated to Melbourne for the season actually ended up back in Sydney by the time the finale was filmed. Luckily they didn’t need to isolate back in NSW because their recent Melbourne quarantine period was recognised as what was required by NSW authorities before re-entering the state. The production went into quarantine for a fortnight after some of the crew tested positive for Covid-19 just days before the final episode was due to be filmed.
“It was really disappointing to get so close to the finale and then get shut down. We of course completely understand the reasons why that had to happen,” Tate told Mediaweek. “As a team we genuinely celebrate the people who owned up to experiencing symptoms.”
The audience weren’t tricked though into thinking everyone was together as the start of the finale features an explanation of how it came together.
Post-production work was a little more involved for this episode and the team worked across the weekend before the episode was delivered to 10 in time for the Monday night broadcast.