Osher Gunsberg says COVID-19 scare on Masked Singer took an emotional toll

Osher Gunsberg has revealed details of The Masked Singer COVID-19 outbreak which urgently shutdown production. It comes as he shares the emotional toll.

Osher Gunsberg has opened up about the COVID-19 outbreak which shut down production of The Masked Singer hours before filming the finale.

Gunsberg, the show’s host, said he’s among almost 200 staff members linked to the show currently in self-isolation after Channel 10 confirmed seven crew members tested positive for COVID-19.

Osher Gunsberg and the cast and crew of The Masked Singer have gone into isolation after a COVID-19 outbreak.

But the popular Queensland personality, who is the show’s host, strongly backed the strict safety and hygiene measures on set and hoped it was enough to contain the outbreak.

“I have every confidence that the incredibly strict protocols we were working under have done their job,” he said.

“I’ve never been in a more stringent, locked down, segregated, hardcore sanitised set than this in my life.

“We have done the rightist of right things even before we started production.

“We were working with the government to make sure they knew we would be safe and we would do it safely and we’d do our very best to work as COVID-safe as we possibly could.”

The network announced on Saturday the show, which is filmed in Melbourne, would be suspended immediately.

Gunsberg was grateful to be safe but admitted to the emotional toll of it all.

“I missed my son’s (Wolfgang) first birthday yesterday (Sunday) and I’m missing my wife and kids enormously,” he said.

“It’s all obviously very tough but I’m very grateful to be working and I’m grateful my wife understands and we have a relationship that we understand this is the business we’ve chosen.

“We understand these things aren’t for fun, they are to save people’s lives, people I’ll never meet,” he said.

Michael Bevan was one of the celebrities to be revealed on The Masked Singer.

Gunsberg praised the unwell person for coming forward.

“I’m so proud of this young performer who put their hand up and said ‘I don’t feel good’ and knowing full well what it would do.

“Production pulled the emergency break and brought this massive freight train to a halt rather than risk anybody and in doing so, it saved 180 people.

“Nothing you’re making is worth it, you can always make more of it and you can always do it later.

“Nothing is worth people’s families.”

One of the show’s judges, Jackie O, revealed she tested negative to the virus but Gunsberg wouldn’t disclose his test results until “everybody had their results back.”

“We are waiting on everybody’s test results and they are putting it altogether,” he said.

“They are doing work behind the scenes with the DHHS (Department of Health and Human Services) and we are staying put until we hear otherwise.

“I’m not moving until they tell me I can.”

Jackie O is one of the judges on The Masked Singer

It’s now a waiting game to see when filming can resume on their final episode but Gunsberg said it wasn’t panic stations just yet.

“We still have three weeks of episodes in the can,” he said.

“I have every confidence they will figure it out.

“Warner Brothers, who make this show, also make The Bachelor and Bachelorette and they worked really hard to work with the safety people to make a show where people actually kiss each other and tongue pash during a pandemic.

“If we can do that, we can figure out how to do a show with masks.”

A Channel 10 spokesman said if filming couldn’t resume soon, they would “find a way to film the finale.”

Channel 10 said The Masked Singer’s outbreak won’t impact The Bachelorette (which Gunsberg hosts) with the series currently filming in Sydney.