‘The Masked Singer’ Unveils New Fan Voting Rule for Season 4

The Masked Singer will look a little different this season as the Fox reality singing competition introduces a new voting rule in the upcoming Season 4, reported Deadline Thursday. Fans will now be able to vote from home to determine which anonymous celebrity singer is unmasked at the end of each episode, but not everyone will be tapped to weigh in on the night’s performances.

The show’s Facebook feed recently began searching for super fans, who are encouraged to register for the chance to “witness all-new performances and vote for your favorites.” Deadline reported that the show plans to have those fans selected from the registration process be part of a virtual audience that will help determine each week’s winner and loser. This is much different than the first of the costumed singing show’s seasons, which had no at-home voting, as they were pre-taped before the episode aired. Instead, audience members who were sitting in on the taping were tasked with giving their input, which in turn was paired with the judges’ votes to calculate who would be headed home.

The Masked Singer reportedly began production on Season 4 Thursday, and the show is planned return to its 8 p.m. ET Wednesday time slot this fall. A premiere date has not been announced yet. Soon after Season 4 was announced, host Nick Cannon found himself in hot water after making anti-Semitic comments on his Cannon’s Class podcast during an interview with former Public Enemy figure Richard “Professor Griff” Griffin. While ViacomCBS parted ways with Cannon immediately after, citing his comments as the reason for the end of their working relationship, Fox issued the following statement following a lengthy apology from Cannon.

“When we were made aware of Nick Cannon’s interview with Richard Griffin on YouTube, we immediately began a dialogue with Nick,” the network said at the time. “He is clear and remorseful that his words were wrong and lacked both understanding and context, and inadvertently promoted hate. This was important for us to observe.”

“Nick has sincerely apologized, and quickly taken steps to educate himself and make amends,” the network continued. “On that basis and given a belief that this moment calls for dialogue, we will move forward with Nick and help him advance this important conversation, broadly. FOX condemns all forms of hate directed toward any community, and we will combat bigotry of any kind.”