Why Nicole Scherzinger Is Leaving The Masked Singer & The Artist Who’s Replacing Her
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She’s been a long-serving panelist on the show, so at the conclusion of season 10, everyone was left wondering why Nicole Scherzinger was leaving The Masked Singer. 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.
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.
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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.”
To keep the authenticity of the show and the wild reactions, the judges revealed the bizarre and lengthy rules to get by on set. “We keep them on different parts of the lot,” explained Plestis to People. “So if there’s a contestant practicing on the stage, none of our panelists can ever see them or hear them.”
He continued: “We shut off all the feeds across the lot so no one can even accidentally hear their singing voices … And all of our contestants are sequestered in a separate part of the lot, with security around them. With all that said, here’s why Nicole Scherzinger is leaving The Masked Singer and who’s replacing her.
Why is Nicole Scherzinger leaving The Masked Singer?
Nicole Scherzinger is leaving The Masked Singer to star in a new production of Sunset Boulevard in London’s West End—literally a dramatic reason! Sunset Boulevard is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the 1950 film of the same title.
“It’s grueling,” she told the New York Times. “But for many years I have been saying I am using a fraction of my potential, and now I feel I have really tapped into that.” She continued: “There are many roles I wanted to play in musical theater, but this is not one of them! I wasn’t sure if the idea was flattering or insulting. But Jamie said to me, don’t watch the movie; read the lines, listen to the music. And I fell madly in love with it.”
When it came to embodying her character, she said: “I felt I knew exactly this feeling of abandonment, the constant thread of loneliness, the insatiable need for affirmation, validation. Now, there is this epic, iconic score to throw all this into and create art from places of torment.”
Scherzinger will play Norma Desmond, a silent film star who dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen. Per the BBC, Lord Lloyd Webber said: “Nicole is one of the finest singers I have worked with, and I can’t wait to get started on this exciting show with her and the rest of this brilliant team.”
In a previous interview with Entertainment Weekly on whether she would continue with The Masked Singer should the show get renewed for future seasons, Scherzinger replied, “Oh my gosh, I would love to, are you kidding me? I love my [Masked Singer] family. And it’s such a great job. Are you kidding? I love it. Yes.”
Who’s replacing Nicole Scherzinger on The Masked Singer?
Rita Ora will be stepping in to fill Scherzinger’s place on The Masked Singer. “We’re grateful to have the amazing @ritaora shine her light and join us as a panelist on #TheMaskedSinger Season 11!” the show announced on Instagram. Ora herself took to her Instagram Story writing, “So happy the secret is finally out. I’m joining the @maskedsingerfox US! Can’t wait to try and guess who’s behind the mask with the other panelists.”
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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