Second celebrity on The Masked Singer revealed
An Aussie sporting icon was revealed as the second Masked Singer on Ten’s hit new show as fans were split over the celebrity judging panel on the show. See the ratings results for Tuesday night. VOTE, HAVE YOUR SAY
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An Aussie sporting icon became the second star to have his identity revealed on Ten’s new reality show The Masked Singer Australia.
Former cricketer Brett Lee, who sang What’s My Scene by the Hoodoo Gurus, was unmasked as the Parrot on the hit Channel 10 show.
Channel 10’s new reality show The Masked Singer has been an overwhelming hit with Australians, giving them what they have been craving — a family-friendly variety show.
But some viewers of the show have been left unimpressed by the panel of celebrity judges, which includes Dannii Minogue, Jackie O, Lindsay Lohan and Dave Hughes.
One News Corp reader described The Masked Singer as “total car crash TV” featuring a “washed up actress and a comedian who has never been funny”.
Another reader, Steve, didn’t hold back when it came to host Hughesy, calling for him to be removed from the panel as he “shouts all the time”.
Other readers were more complimentary, with one calling it “watchable” with “great costumes”.
The debut episode of the show attracted 1.162 million viewers across five metro cities, and it was the top rating program across the nation’s free-to-air networks Monday night.
It also smashed Nine’s show The Block, which only had 801,000 viewers as it faced off with the reality renovation show in the 7.30pm timeslot.
It gave Ten’s next program Have You Been Paying Attention a massive boost, as it attracted 823,000 viewers.
HYBPA also beat its rival on Nine This Time Next Year, after Karl Stefanovic’s show got 395,000 viewers in the 8.30pm timeslot.
Stefanovic’s show was even beaten by the ABC’s Four Corners which had 564,000 viewers.
The Masked Singer maintained its lead in the ratings on Tuesday despite a slight drop in numbers — with 1.054 million viewers.
Tuesday night’s The Block saw 816,000 viewers while ABC’s Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds had 664,000.
The new Beverly Hills 90210 reboot (BH90210) came in 14th for the night with 468,000 viewers.
The clunky and often comical panel chemistry, the cryptic clues combined with the elaborate costumes and slick reinventions of the songs to either disguise a singer’s voice or enhance the vocal talents of the non singers combined to give viewers what they have craved for months.
Even those on social media who weren’t enamoured of the format applauded the lack of confected drama and saucy scenarios which have made Australian reality television unwatchable as family entertainment.
And while she may not have had the reveal wow factor when removing her giant octopus head, Gretel Killeen’s confession that singing in public was a challenge for her also pushed the aspirational button for the audience.
More celebrities are likely to wriggle into an animal or alien costume in future seasons than agree to head to the African jungle for six weeks.
The Masked Singer’s ratings success is the logical conclusion of where musical reality TV has been headed for years.
It has already been less about the unknown people auditioning, and more about the celebrity judges. Does anyone even remember who won The Voice this year, let alone last year?
So The Masked Singer smartly does away with all those pesky nobodies, hires famous judges (sorry a “guessing panel”) and gets celebrities to sing.
The twist — hiding them behind elaborate costumes — is a masterstroke.
Would anyone have tuned in if it was promoted as a straight-up celebrity singing show featuring Killeen and Rob Mills?
It pulls in people curious waiting for the big reveal — even if they’re hatewatching and complaining about it on Twitter. And there’s enough G-rated colour and movement.
That’s the demographic the Got Talent franchise appeals to — TV where you can turn your brain off and the kids can turn their iPad off and everyone can sit around and it’s fast-paced enough to not get bored.
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It can be car crash TV in parts. It was terrible at times — and some of the stuff Lohan was saying in her 20-packs-a-day voice was just plain bonkers.
Watching someone who is probably Nikki Webster in an alien suit makes her “want to go to the moon?” Other moments gave her “trippy” Burning Man flashbacks?
But LiLo truly earned whatever huge pay cheque Ten lured her here with when she dropped ridiculous guesses (like Usher or Keith Urban need to appear on The Masked Singer) and then used all her acting skills to pretend she knew who Killeen is.
We get the feeling this might be a running theme with Lindsay as the masks come off.