Ken Jeong Says 'The Masked Singer' Contestants Wear Disguises Off-Stage to Keep Their Identities Hidden
Fans of The Masked Singer have long assumed that the show's judges must know the identities of the masked contestants performing on the celebrity singing competition show. But during an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, The Masked Singer judge Ken Jeong set the record straight.
According to Jeong, he and his fellow judges — Nicole Scherzinger, Jenny McCarthy, and Robin Thicke — and host Nick Cannon have no idea who the celebrities are before they're unmasked. In fact, the show's producers have come up with an intricate strategy to keep Canon and the judges in the dark throughout the filming process.
"There’s a whole method, it’s like two separate shows going on," Jeong said. "Contrary to popular belief, we don’t know who the contestants are. Nick Cannon, the host, doesn’t know. It’s like two separate productions in one. And if we do ever have to cross paths, the contestants have to wear, like, a black hoodie, black visors, and black t-shirts that say 'Don’t look at me' and even their agent and publicist or manager — their whole squad — they have to wear masks just in case, like, let’s say we would have the same agent or something like that, like, we don’t know who anybody is."
Thanks to the thorough identity-hiding strategy, Jeong has made some, shall we say, surprising guesses as to the singers' identities on the wildly successful show — something he now makes fun of himself for.
"To be on a show like The Masked Singer, it’s just such an honor," Jeong said. "No one knew it was going to be this big or this popular, and no one also knew that I would be the dumbest judge on that show. I didn’t know that was my legacy. You know you’re stupid when you think the poodle is Dog the Bounty Hunter and I wish that was a joke. I really said that."
The third season of The Masked Singer airs Feb. 2 on Fox, following the Super Bowl.
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