The second season of the American television series The Masked Singer premiered on Fox on September 25, 2019, following a "special sneak peek" aired on September 15, and concluded on December 18, 2019. The season was won by actor/comedian Wayne Brady as "Fox", with singer Chris Daughtry finishing second as "Rottweiler", and singer/talk show host Adrienne Bailon-Houghton placing third as "Flamingo".
Production For the season, which featured 16 new costumes, Toybina says her goals were to increase the production quality, emphasize their backstories and increase their mobility. Tree was experimental; Toybina and her team challenged themselves to question "what fabric can do" by creating something new and different. Meanwhile, Fox was steampunk-inspired and the Penguin's mask was chromed in silver. Ice Cream was also innovative; the costume was formed during a complicated process of sculpting the head "out of foam and [waxing it] onto the shoulder." As opposed to stereotypical black and red accents, Toybina wanted to create a sleek costume for Black Widow by experimenting with texture and movement for its design. Similarly, rather than designing the expected appearance of a Leopard, Toybina relegated animal print to the costume's mask only and instead created a vintage look with a Victorian dress and large collar. Toybina says she wanted to push the boundaries of costume design by creating a "theatrical environment" made of petals surrounding the face mask of the Flower. In order to confuse viewers, the celebrity inside the Flamingo saw out of a peephole in the neck instead of the head to hide their true height.
Movie and cultural influences were also present in the season; the hippie-like Eagle embodied Americana and was influenced by rock musicians Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Springsteen, while Skeleton was heavily inspired by the character Jack Skellington of Tim Burton's 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas. The Panda was imagined as a playful costume that would appeal to younger viewers of the show as the necklace was inspired by gumball machines and the clothing Harajuku-like. The Egg costume, which was requested by a contestant, was described as "somewhere between the runway and Lady Gaga." It incorporated egg features in four different ways: the costume's mask was a boiled egg, the hat was a fried egg, the intricacy of the breastplate (which was hand-beaded) represented a Fabergé egg, and the overcoat resembled a cracked eggshell. Toybina inserted the beads and stones into the Butterfly costume by hand, which she says transforms the costume's darkness and sex appeal into beauty onstage.
Increasing the mobility of the celebrities inside the costumes was also a focus of the season's designs, Toybina said. For safety purposes, she had to reduce the extravagance of Ladybug's face mask to make it tight to the face and instead accentuated the volume of the body of the costume. Alternatively, the mask is the main feature of the street-inspired Rottweiler costume to allow the celebrity to move freely onstage. One of the last costumes that was created for the season was Thingamajig, which Toybina says resembles a grandfather and an elf with its long bead and ears. Contrary to popular belief, Toybina insists the costume was not made to resemble asparagus, rather, it was born out of pure creativity.
Filming occurred from July 1 to August 9, 2019. Toybina won a Costume Designers Guild Award in the Excellence in Variety, Reality-Competition, Live Television category in recognition of her work on the finale. Also starting with this season, Fox Entertainment took production of the show over from Endemol Shine North America, with the show falling under the Fox Alternative Entertainment label. It also allowed the show to be produced in-house.
Panelists and host
Singer-songwriter Robin Thicke, television personality Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, actor and comedian Ken Jeong, and recording artist Nicole Scherzinger returned as panelists. Nick Cannon once again returned as host.
Almost Family cast members Brittany Snow, Megalyn Echikunwoke, and Emily Osment appeared in the audience in the second episode, while Anthony Anderson was a guest panelist in the sixth episode, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (Robert Smigel) was a guest panelist in the seventh episode, Joel McHale returned as a guest panelist in the eighth and ninth episodes, and season one winner T-Pain returned to the show as a guest panelist in the tenth episode.
Contestants The competitors were said to have achieved 140 films, 69 Emmy Award nominations, 42 Grammy Award nominations, 31 Billboard #1 singles, 22 Broadway shows, 20 platinum records, 19 Emmys wins, 15 marriages, eight divorces, seven Super Bowl appearances, six multi-platinum records, five Hall of Fame honors, three New York Times Best Sellers, and two Time 100 honors.
The Season 2 winner, Wayne Brady, had been asked to be on the first season of the show, but turned it down at the time. He said he felt viewers would tune in "not because they want to see the talent, but because they want to see the train wreck." After he saw the success of the first season and getting approval from his daughter and ex-wife, he joined in for the second season.
Stage name Celebrity Occupation Episodes1 2 3456789101113 Group A Group B Group C Group D Fox Wayne Brady Actor/comedian WIN SAFE SAFE WIN SAFE SAFE WINNER Rottweiler Chris Daughtry Singer WIN SAFE SAFE WIN SAFE SAFE RUNNER-UP Flamingo Adrienne Bailon-Houghton Singer/talk show host WIN SAFE SAFE WIN SAFE SAFE THIRD LeopardSealSinger RISK SAFE SAFE RISK SAFEOUT ThingamajigVictor OladipoNBA player WIN SAFE SAFE RISK SAFEOUT TreeAna GasteyerActor/comedian WIN SAFE SAFEWINOUT Butterfly Michelle Williams Singer WIN SAFE SAFE OUT Flower Patti LaBelle Singer WIN SAFE SAFE OUT Ladybug Kelly Osbourne TV personality RISK SAFE OUT Black Widow Raven-Symoné Actor WIN SAFE OUT Penguin Sherri Shepherd Comedian RISK OUT Skeleton Paul Shaffer Bandleader RISK OUT Eagle Dr. Drew Pinsky Celebrity doctor OUT Panda Laila Ali Boxer OUT Ice Cream Tyler "Ninja" Blevins Professional gamer OUT Egg Johnny Weir Figure skater OUT
Episodes Week 1 (September 25) + Performances on the first episode (Group A) # Stage name Song Result 1 Butterfly "Bang Bang" by Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj WIN 2 Egg "Just Dance" by Lady Gaga RISK 3 Thingamajig "Easy" by Commodores WIN 4 Skeleton "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang/"Good Times" by Chic RISKSmackdown Identity Result 1 Egg "One Way or Another" by Blondie Johnny Weir OUT 2 Skeleton "Hard to Handle" by Otis Redding SAFE
+ Performances on the first episode (Group B) # Stage name Song Result 1 Ladybug "Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler RISK 2 Rottweiler "Maneater" by Hall & Oates WIN 3 Tree "High Hopes" by Panic! at the Disco WIN 4 Ice Cream"Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus RISKSmackdown Identity Result 1 Ice Cream "Whip It" by Devo Tyler "Ninja" Blevins OUT 2 Ladybug "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar SAFE
Week 2 (October 2) + Performances on the second episode (Group C) # Stage name Song Result 1 Black Widow "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" by Whitney Houston WIN 2 Leopard "Somebody to Love" by Queen RISK 3 Flamingo "Sucker" by Jonas Brothers WIN 4 Panda "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" by Kelly Clarkson RISKSmackdown Identity Result 1 Panda "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled Laila Ali OUT 2 Leopard "Respect" by Aretha Franklin SAFE
Week 3 (October 9) + Performances on the third episode (Group D) # Stage name Song Result 1 Flower "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton WIN 2 Eagle "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" by Meat Loaf RISK 3 Penguin "The Middle" by Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey RISK 4 Fox "This Love" by Maroon 5 WINSmackdown Identity Result 1 Eagle "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" by Nancy Sinatra Dr. Drew Pinsky OUT 2 Penguin "Worth It" by Fifth Harmony SAFE
Week 4 (October 16) + Performances on the fourth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Flamingo "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins SAFE 2 Leopard "Stitches" by Shawn Mendes SAFE 3 Black Widow "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood SAFE 4 Skeleton "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet Paul Shaffer OUT 5 Thingamajig "Rainbow" by Kacey Musgraves SAFE 6 Butterfly "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi SAFE
Week 5 (November 6) + Performances on the fifth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Rottweiler "Love Runs Out" by OneRepublic SAFE 2 Ladybug "Juice" by Lizzo SAFE 3 Tree "Think" by Aretha Franklin SAFE 4 Penguin "All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor Sherri ShepherdOUT 5 Flower "Cheap Thrills" by Sia SAFE 6 Fox "Hey Look Ma, I Made It" by Panic! at the Disco SAFE
+ Performances on the sixth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Black Widow "Believe" by Cher Raven-SymonéOUT 2 Thingamajig "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" by The Temptations SAFE 3 Butterfly "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones SAFE 4 Leopard "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry SAFE 5 Flamingo "Never Enough" by Loren Allred SAFE
Week 6 (November 13) + Performances on the seventh episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Fox "Every Little Step" by Bobby Brown SAFE 2 Ladybug "Youngblood" by 5 Seconds of Summer Kelly OsbourneOUT 3 Flower "Amazed" by Lonestar SAFE 4 Tree "No Excuses" by Meghan Trainor SAFE 5 Rottweiler "Castle on the Hill" by Ed Sheeran SAFE
Week 7 (November 20) + Performances on the eighth episode # Stage name Song Result 1 Flamingo "Lady Marmalade" by Patti LaBelle WIN 2 Leopard "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire RISK 3 Flower "Alone" by Heart RISK 4 Rottweiler "Grenade" by Bruno Mars WINSmackdown Identity Result 1 Leopard "Don't Cha" by The Pussycat Dolls feat. Busta Rhymes SAFE 2 Flower "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor Patti LaBelleOUT
Week 8 (December 4) + Performances on the ninth episode # Stage name Song Result 1 Butterfly "Sorry Not Sorry" by Demi Lovato RISK 2 Fox "Tennessee Whiskey" by Chris Stapleton WIN 3 Thingamajig "Haven't Met You Yet" by Michael Bublé RISK 4 Tree "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler WINSmackdown Identity Result 1 Butterfly "Believer" by Imagine Dragons Michelle WilliamsOUT 2 Thingamajig "Caught Up" by Usher SAFE
Week 9 (December 10 and 11) + Performances on the tenth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Fox "Blame It" by Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain SAFE 2 Leopard "We Are Young" by Fun. SAFE 3 Thingamajig "Ordinary People" by John Legend SAFE 4 Flamingo "Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac SAFE 5 Tree "The Edge of Glory" by Lady Gaga Ana GasteyerOUT 6 Rottweiler "Someone You Loved" by Lewis Capaldi SAFE
+ Performances on the eleventh episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Fox "This Christmas" by Donny Hathaway SAFE 2 Rottweiler "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers SAFE 3 Thingamajig "Winter Wonderland" by Bing Crosby Victor OladipoOUT 4 Flamingo "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley SAFE 5 Leopard "Big Spender" by Shirley Bassey SealOUT
Week 10 (December 18) – Finale + Performances on the final episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Fox "Try a Little Tenderness" by Otis Redding Wayne Brady WINNER 2 Flamingo "Proud Mary" by Tina Turner Adrienne Bailon-Houghton THIRD PLACE 3 Rottweiler "Alive" by Sia Chris Daughtry RUNNER-UP
Ratings The premiere received a lower 18–49 rating than the first season's but was similar to its average. The ratings for the finale also dropped, though the broadcast was up almost 20percent in viewers from the previous week's episode. Deadline Hollywood cited the second season as a major reason why Fox—for the first time in the network's history—ranked number one in fall entertainment programming, and Adweek named the show the "Hottest Reality/Competition Series" of 2019.
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