Season 4 Premiere and Overall Format
Masked Singer season 4 premiered on September 23, 2022, on Fox, following the same competitive singing format as previous seasons. The show features celebrity contestants wearing elaborate costumes and masks to conceal their identities while performing weekly live challenges. Judges Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke returned for season 4, evaluating performances and guessing identities alongside host Nick Cannon. The season ran for 12 episodes, concluding with a live finale that crowned the winner based on panel votes and audience voting. Production was handled by Endemol Shine North America, with filming taking place at Television City Studios in Los Angeles under strict COVID-19 protocols that included testing bubbles and masked audiences. The show is based on the South Korean format King of Mask Singer, which first aired on MBC in 2015. For more information on the original format, see the Wikipedia page for King of Mask Singer at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Mask_Singer.
The season featured a lineup of 12 unmasked celebrities spanning music, television, sports, and film, with contestants such as Le'Veon Bell, Tyga, and Francia Raisa competing under masks including "Bulldog," "Serpent," and "Sun." Each episode followed a structure of two performance rounds followed by a panel guessing segment and a reveal ceremony where the lowest-voted contestant was eliminated. The show maintained a consistent time slot of Wednesday nights at 8/7c on Fox throughout its run. The season finale aired on December 14, 2022, and crowned the winner of the competition. According to Fox Broadcasting, the season averaged a 0.7 rating in the 18–49 demographic, placing it among the network's midseason reality offerings. The format relies on a panel of celebrity judges and audience vote data to determine eliminations each week.
Unmasked Identities and Elimination Order
The first unmasking of season 4 occurred in episode 2, when "Bulldog" was revealed to be former NFL running back Le'Veon Bell, who had previously played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets. "Serpent" was unmasked in episode 3 as singer and actress Francia Raisa, known for her roles in The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Grey's Anatomy. "Sun" was eliminated in episode 4 and revealed to be rapper and singer Tyga, whose real name is Michael Ray Nguyen-Stevenson. The elimination order continued through 11 additional contestants, with each unmasking accompanied by a performance of a signature song chosen by the celebrity. The final three contestants were "Phoenix," "Night Angel," and "Goldfish," with "Phoenix" winning the season. The runner-up was "Night Angel," and "Goldfish" placed third. The identities of the final three were kept secret until the live finale broadcast on December 14, 2022. For a detailed breakdown of the elimination order, visit the official Fox Masked Singer page at https://www.fox.com/the-masked-singer/.
Each unmasking segment generated significant social media engagement, with hashtags related to the revealed celebrities trending on Twitter and TikTok within minutes of the reveal. The season's most-watched episode aired on November 2, 2022, drawing 4.6 million viewers according to Fox's weekly ratings report. The finale, which featured performances by all remaining contestants and a special appearance by past Masked Singer winners, drew 4.1 million viewers. The show's audience skewed toward women 18–49, consistent with Fox's