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The Masked Singer UK has Queen Bee vs Duck, Unicorn vs Butterfly, Chameleon vs Hedgehog…
Yes, these are apparently celebrities, but they’re hidden by masks, hence the title. Who are they? No idea. That’s the point of the show.
When they are revelaed, just how ‘celebrity’ they are might well be questionable, but those who make up the panels watching them are mostly non-entities: Ken Jeong (who?) – a man who really needs to learn to sit down, TV gameshow pointlessness Davina McCall, former pop star Rita Ora, and the man who will whore himself out for a quick buck – Jonathan Ross.
The whole thing is hosted by wannabe comedian Joel Dommett.
And the real crying shame in all this is that it wastes 90 minutes of prime-time viewing.
When I first saw this as a premise, I assumed that 12 ‘celebs’ would be revealed in the course of each show – which starts tonight, continues tomorrow and then is on each Saturday to follow. But no… only one of the 12 is revealed at the end. So, who is it? Well, prior to the broadcast, even though I was watching a preview episode, the reveal was removed by default, so I will only know when you know. When that is revealed, I’ll stick it behind a spoiler barrier at the end of this review.
What follows – as well as singing – is a lot of incredibly pointless ‘backstory’ videos. In these, their voices are digitised so you can’t make them out. Of course, they sing as they normally would, but to these ears, I can only tell you that some are male and some are female… not too helpful, I know.
Each of them will also give a clue after they sing, but as it shows from the panellists, not a single one of them can figure it out, either.
Somehow, this show was very successful this time last year in the US, when it was hosted by Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger, Robin Thicke and… Ken Jeong. In turn, it spawns from Korea’s King of Mask Singer, which has been going since 2015.
How to score The Masked Singer UK? I’ll give it 2/10. One for the amusing costumes, plus when the other ‘creature’ in each stand-off is shown apparently watching the other ones on a TV; and one for the male rendition of Kate Bush’s Babushka, and all I’ll say about that man is that I think Rita Ora’s guess was correct. Time will tell when the reveal comes, whenever that is. Don’t ask me.. because I don’t know.
This programme will also save you a fortune in LSD.
At the end of the broadcast, the evictee was…
The Masked Singer begins tonight on ITV at 7pm, then continues tomorrow at 8pm, and continues from next Saturday at 7pm. It will not be available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but after broadcast, each episode will be on the ITV Hub.
Episode 1 Score: 2/10
Director: Simon Staffurth
Music: Marc Sylvian, Victoria Horn
Host: Joel Dommett
Panelists: Ken Jeong, Davina McCall, Rita Ora, Jonathan Ross
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.