Hidden treasure
The Masked Singer is returning with even more outlandish costumes than ever before and, as panellist Jackie O tells Danielle McGrane, some big surprises.
The Masked Singer is a show that needs to be seen to be believed.
Even the show’s panellist Jackie O had to be convinced it was worth working on when she first heard about it.
“Stephen Tate who is the head of programming at Channel 10 said, ‘Look I’ve got to speak to you about a show I want you to do’ and he showed me it and I said, ‘Oh Stephen, I just don’t get this show. I don’t understand what it is’,” Jackie O said.
“But once I did understand it I realised it was great and I’m so glad I signed on.”
That’s the thing about
The Masked Singer, once people watch it they tend to be hooked.
It’s had two incredibly successful seasons on Australian TV now so it’s safe to say the public finally “gets it” too.
And for Jackie O, it ticks a lot of boxes.
“It’s a singing and guessing game which I love,” she said.
“I’m all for guessing. I’m like Nancy Drew over here.”
In fact, as far as guessing is concerned she’s pretty good at it considering she figured out that tennis star Mark Philippoussis was hiding under one of the costumes last season.
“Mark Philippoussis was one of my biggest ‘Oh My God’ moments ever,” she said.
“I used to watch Mark Philippoussis on the court and I thought, ‘Oh no he would never do this show’, it was such a long shot of a guess. But I guessed him on that first episode and when he pulled off his mask, he was the echidna, I just couldn’t believe it. You should have seen me, I was like a little girl at Christmas who is so excited.”
Faced with a whole new season, Jackie O says it’s getting harder for her and her fellow panellists – Dannii Minogue, Dave Hughes and Urzila Carlson – to guess who’s behind the costumes.
“We are so terrible at it this year because they’ve brought in international people and so instead of just thinking of Aussies, which is a relatively small pool, we have to think of UK and US artists so it was incredibly difficult and we have done our worst this season at guessing,” she said.
But by bringing in the international guests this year it’s really kept the panellists on their toes.
“I think they wanted us to be a little blindsided with who might be on the lineup,” she said. “There’s a lot of Australian artists and we know them all and we know what most of their voices sound like, but it’s also nice to know with every mask that comes out you think,
‘OK let’s not think Australian let’s think the world over‘ and that then opens up the guessing game far and wide.
“It becomes very difficult to hone in on someone because there are so many different international artists that you could get. So I think this year, because of that element being brought in, it made it so much harder for the guessing panel.”
It’s a singing competition, but because some of the celebrities are known as singers they have to learn to hide their distinctive sound.
“You’ve got to remember, a lot of them throw their voices,” Jackie O said.
They’re also kept far apart from each other backstage so there’s no chance the panellists can take a peek under their costumes.
Speaking of the costumes, they’re even more outlandish this year than they’ve ever been.
“Tim Chappel, who is the costume designer, really wanted to make it a little bit more fun so we have really fun masks this year,” Jackie O said.
“You have Mullet, who is a fish but also has a mullet on his head, and then you have Kebab. Then there are the really cool epic costumes like Dolly and Baby and you have Duster, like a duster in the house, which looks incredible. So he’s really mixed it up with some more tongue-in-cheek costumes which I think is needed because it is a tonguein-cheek show.”
Even though these are professionals behind the masks, Jackie O is still really careful with her feedback thanks to advice she received from a particular contestant on last year’s show.
“Sophie Monk was on last year as the Dragonfly and I learnt a lot from her,” she said. “
Jackie O: “You have no idea the kind of surprises that are in store this season. This is the best you will ever see.”
“She said it doesn’t matter how big the artist is, you don’t know how scared they are and they’re all terrified going on stage. They’re at their most vulnerable because they’re in conditions where they can’t see the stage, it’s hard to move, they have to change their vocals – there are all these elements involved that make it so difficult for the artist and I always bear that in mind since Sophie told me that.”
So Jackie O’s tactic is to give them all a positive response.
“Whatever they’re doing is extremely hard, it’s not in their wheelhouse and I want them to come back stronger the next time,” she said.
“You really want them to be in their element, it doesn’t work for anyone if they’re not. We really try to encourage each artist so what happens is before we start rolling, the artist will come on stage in their costume and we will all big them up and try to give them all the support they need.
“And they’re not all singers. We have some amazing singers but I think people want a mix. I don’t think people want all singers.
They want some singers and some that are surprises where you go ‘Oh wow, I never thought you could sing like that?’.”
It’s a show that’s full of surprises and Jackie O says that’s a major part of the fun.
“People are so eager to find out and crack the code and when you feel like you’ve cracked it you want to tell everyone and anyone ‘I know who this person is’, but for me on the panel I do prefer if they’re a surprise,” she said.
“There are way more surprises this season. You have no idea the kind of surprises that are in store.
This is the best Masked Singer you will ever see.”
The Masked Singer Australia, premieres Monday, 7.30pm, 10 and 10 play