‘The Masked Singer’ Premiere Unveils New Judges Challenge

The Masked Singer unveiled a series of new twists on the Season 4 premiere. Not only has the show implemented fan voting and introduced a masked singing duo, but they are also getting the judges involved for the first time. During the premiere, Nicole Scherzinger, Ken Jeong, Robin Thicke, and Jenny McCarthy were all tasked with making a first impression guess immediately after the singers were done performing. As the masked singers are eliminated throughout the season, the show will head into the vault, where these first impressions will be stored to determine who hit the nail on the head when it comes to figuring out which celebrities are belting their hearts out on stage.

For the first time ever, the judges have a major stake in the game. During the premiere episode, the fans got to see how this new twist played out. As soon as the singers were done with their performance, the judges wrote the name down of the person who they believe is behind the mask. Their guesses were then placed into a “vault” to be opened at a later date when the masked singer was eliminated. At the end of the premiere episode, the Dragon was eliminated from the competition. But, before they were unmasked, the show went into the vault to check out what Scherzinger, Thicke, McCarthy, and Jeong wrote down as their initial guesses for the Dragon’s identity.

While McCarthy and Jeong weren’t able to accurately guess the voice, Thicke and Scherzinger could discern that the man behind the Dragon mask was rap legend Busta Rhymes. As a result, both Thicke and Scherzinger are one step closer to earning themselves the first-ever Golden Ear trophy. Following his time on the show, Rhymes spoke with Entertainment Weekly and explained why he wanted to try his hand at it. According to the rapper, not only does he enjoy the Masked Singer production and experience, but he knows that the show has really resonated with fans over the years.

“Well, I wanted to get on the show because everything made sense, as far as the way the opportunity was presented — the professionalism of the production and the network, the incredible accommodations that they extended to us so that we can feel above and beyond comfortable in the process of the whole experience,” Rhymes explained. “And last, but not least, I’m a fan of the show. My kids, my peers, I literally have been talking about this show with [them] and my brothers, like Swizz Beatz. It’s just a thing that is really resonating well with the people.”