The Masked Singer is back for another season of surprising reveals and incredible performances, but the judging panel will look a little bit different this year. Who are The Masked Singer judges for Season 11? Keep reading to find out.
Fox’s The Masked Singer is a reality TV singing competition series, in which celebrities compete against each other in performances while wearing head-to-toe costumes and face masks to conceal their identities. Each week, a panel of judges guess the celebrities’ identities based on their voices and clues provided before and after their performances. At the end of every episode, the judges and the live studio audience vote on their favorite contestant. The singer with the least amount of votes is eliminated and must then take off their mask to reveal their identity. The last singer to be unveiled is determined the winner.
The series premiered in 2019 and is based off of the South Korean show King of the Mask Singer, which follows a similar format. Since its U.S. debut, The Masked Singer has since expanded to several different countries, including France, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Brazil.
The judging panel for the past 10 seasons has consisted of Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Robin Thicke and Nicole Scherzinger. Several celebrities have appeared on the show as guest judges, including Kenan Thompson, Anthony Anderson, Leah Remini, Jamie Foxx and more. Nick Cannon has served as the host for the past 10 seasons as well. Read on to see who the judges for Season 11 of The Masked Singer are.
Who are The Masked Singer judges for Season 11?
Who are The Masked Singer judges for Season 11? Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg and Robin Thicke are all returning for Season 11, along with host Nick Cannon. Nicole Scherzinger was sadly not able to film Season 11 due to a scheduling conflict with her role in Jamie Lloyd’s production of Sunset Boulevard, which opened in London’s West End on Oct. 12, 2023, and ran through January 2024. Filming for Season 11 began in September 2023, before Season 10 even aired, making it impossible for the former Pussycat Dolls member to participate in both projects.
British singer and actress Rita Ora will be taking over Scherzinger’s spot while she is gone. Ora is best known for hits like “Anywhere,” “Let You Love Me” and “Praising You,” as well as roles in movies such as Fifty Shades of Grey. She is also already familiar with the show, as she is a panelist on The Masked Singer UK.
“There couldn’t have been a better choice than Rita, because not only did she understand the show,” McCarthy-Wahlberg told Entertainment Weekly ahead of the Season 11 premiere. She added of her new co-star: “She’s also an amazing performer, she has a great ear, she’s funny, and she’s got that kind of down to earth grounded personality, which you need because there’s a real chemistry between us on the panel. We always welcome any kind of guest star that comes in, but on the judge’s panel it can be tough. And she came in like an old friend, like an old sister, an old cousin. She’s already part of our family and hopefully will be for a long time.”
While speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Robin Thicke joked: “I don’t mind if she beats me in guesses but If she has better dad jokes than me, it is on, Rita!” He continued, “She’s got some pretty good dad jokes, so I’m a little worried about that part, but I can hold my own.”
Off-screen, Ora is married to Oscar-winning director and screenwriter Taika Waititi. The couple were friends for six years before they began dating in 2021, later tying the knot in secret in 2022.
It’s still unclear if Scherzinger will return to The Masked Singer for Season 12 or if Ora will remain on the show as a permanent panelist, but McCarthy-Wahlberg did tell ET that “it would be devastating” if Scherzinger left the show permanently. “I would be going through a grieving period. It still is weird because we are such a tight family. We’ve grown into this brother and sisterhood,” she said, adding that she’d love to see Scherzinger make a surprise cameo on Season 11: “Maybe they’re doing this so Nicole can be underneath the costume. Who knows? It could be! I would love nothing more than her to pop up and surprise us.”
Sunset Boulevard is set to move over to Broadway later this year, however, so Ora might be filling in for at least one more season.
Season 11 of The Masked Singer premieres on Fox on March 6, 2o24, at 8 p.m. EST.
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