The Masked Singer Judges Salaries: Here’s How Much They Make Per Season
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It’s one of the most popular shows on TV but even we weren’t prepared to learn The Masked Singer judges’ salaries because it’s way more than we thought. The Masked Singer—also abbreviated as TMS—is Fox’s 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.
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Throughout the season, a panel of judges guesses the celebrities’ identities based on their voices and clues provided before and after each performance. Each week, the contestant with the least amount of votes from the studio audience is eliminated and takes off their masks to reveal their identities.
The series, which premiered in 2019, is based on South Korea’s King of the Mask Singer, which follows a similar format. Since the premiere of The King of the Mask Singer in 2015, The Masked Singer has expanded to dozens of countries across the world including France, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Brazil.
“It was flypaper TV right from the get-go,” The Masked Singer executive producer Craig Plestis told The Hollywood Reporter in 2019 about why he wanted to produce the show in the United States. “I just knew right away this was a special show. It was unbelievable in its appeal — and the gameplay, spectacle, family-viewing…[and] it was this huge hit in Asia…. If we do the job here, it should work here.”
Plestis also explained how he convinced Fox to greenlight The Masked Singer for a first season. “From the get-go, Fox asked how we were going to cast this. They were firm in saying, ‘We’re not going to do the show unless you get unbelievable talent for the show,’” he said. “It has to be recognizable names. When the masks come off, everyone has to recognize that face — or they have to have some huge credibility, either in sports, in entertainment, TV, film, music. Some people were easy to cast. They saw the potential of the show.” But back to The Masked Singer judges’ salaries because honestly, we were blown away.
The Masked Singer judges’ salaries
Here’s how much Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke make per episode.
Ken Jeong
Seasons: 1 to present
Salary: $1.25 million to $2.5 million per season
Net worth: $14 million.
Ken Jeong has been a judge on The Masked Singer US since the show debuted in 2019 but his salary has not been publicly disclosed. The Daily Mail reported that judges on the Australian version of The Masked Singer make between $250,000 to $500,000 a season but we’d wager hosts on the US version make much more than that.
Jeong switched careers, from being a practicing physician for several years to a comedian and actor. “Leaving medicine to go to entertainment was so scary, and it was so nerve-racking. I really didn’t know what was going to happen. And then also just pivoting and doing other types of entertainment, you just don’t know what’s going to happen. You just hope for the best, and you just keep moving forward. And I think I’ve just learned along the way,” he told Parade in 2023. “I think Masked Singer has a lot to do with it, just having fun along the way. Just kind of owning what you’re doing and embracing it, seeing if you if things can come full circle.”
Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg
Seasons: 1 to present
Salary: $1.25 million to $2.5 million per season.
Net worth: $25 million.
Like Jeong, Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg has been a judge on The Masked Singer US since the show debuted in 2019. Her salary has also not been disclosed but we estimate it’s somewhere between $1.25 to $2.5 million based on what we could find about international iterations of the show. She has a net worth of $25 million, owing to her time as a model, Playboy Playmate, and actor, but that’s combined with the fortune of her husband Donnie Wahlberg.
Nicole Scherzinger
Seasons: 1 to present
Salary: $1.25 million to $2.5 million per season.
Net worth: $14 million.
Nicole Scherzinger has also been a judge on The Masked Singer US since 2019. Again, her salary has not been disclosed so the above figures are based on what we can find from other international iterations. Season 10 will be her final season of The Masked Singer for now, as she’ll be appearing in the West End revival of Sunset Boulevard in London. “I had to actually choose between The Masked Singer Season 11 and Sunset Boulevard. I chose Sunset Boulevard. This is where my talents truly lie. I’m still proving myself,” she told People.
Robin Thicke
Seasons: 1 to present
Salary: $1.25 million to $2.5 million per season
Net worth: $10 million.
Like all the other judges, Robin Thicke’s Masked Singer salary has not been publicly revealed, but TheThings.com estimates it’s about $100,000 per episode, which would match what we’ve found elsewhere.
Thicke told Billboard that in addition to his judging duties, he’s looking to release new music in the future. “My home burned down in the [2018] Malibu fires, so I’ve been on the road for four years and having children, so I have a big vault of unreleased music. Since we moved back to the Malibu house, the past eight or nine months have been the most productive I’ve been for years. I’m excited for new music at the top of 2024… I have 75 percent of the album done.”
The Masked Singer airs at 8 pm on Wednesday on FOX. Here’s how to watch it live for free.
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Rita Ora
Season: 11
Salary: Unknown, but likely $1 million
Net Worth:$30 million
Rita Ora is sitting in for Nicole Scherzinger who is currently on the West End for the revival of Sunset Boulevard.
Ora, who has hosted and been a judge in the UK version of the show, told Entertainment Weekly about how she felt when she got the call. “Well, of course I was familiar by doing the U.K. show for about five seasons, and when they asked me to do this one, I was so excited. I just felt like a hundred percent [yes] because I already knew the show so well, and I just love it and I love the excitement of it. It’s just so crazy and it’s like a huge game show, and such a great family show. You can’t really go wrong. I mean, you may look crazy with the names you [guess], but who cares? Because the whole show is a bit bonkers anyway, so it doesn’t feel like work at all.
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