The fourth season of the American television series The Masked Singer premiered on Fox on September 23, 2020, following a sneak peek episode that aired on September 13, and concluded on December 16, 2020. The season was won by singer LeAnn Rimes as "Sun", with singer Aloe Blacc finishing second as "Mushroom", and singer Nick Carter placing third as "Crocodile".
Panelists and host
Nick Cannon, singer-songwriter Robin Thicke, television and radio personality Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, actor and comedian Ken Jeong, and recording artist Nicole Scherzinger all returned for their fourth season as host and panelists. Following controversial statements made on his podcast, it was confirmed that Cannon would remain as host of the show, after Fox accepted his apology.
Guest panelists included Joel McHale in the third and fourth episodes, season two winner Wayne Brady in the sixth episode, Niecy Nash in the seventh episode, Cheryl Hines in the eighth episode, Jay Pharoah in the ninth episode, and Craig Robinson in the tenth episode.
The panelists also engaged in a competition for the Golden Ear in this season. After each masked singer performed for the first time along with an initial clue package, each panelist wrote their first impressions-based guess at the identity of the celebrity and kept in a safe until the men in black are instructed to bring it out upon a contestant's elimination. Those guesses were revealed after each celebrity was unmasked, with panelist scoring a point for each celebrity they got correct from their initial first impression, with the panelist with the most correct answers winning the Golden Ear. Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg won the first Golden Ear for getting the most guesses correct.
Production Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, various industry-adopted safety protocols were implemented for production (as well as a change in location from Television City to Red Studios Hollywood), which included that the tapings to have a virtual audience, and that the judging panel would be 8 feet apart from each other. Fox Alternative Entertainment president Rob Wade said that the show would still "feel very much like" past seasons, having employed "various quarantining and various camera tricks" to preserve the visible presence of a studio audience. Executive producer Craig Plestis stated that a goal for season four's costumes was to "increase the bonkers level and keep the production values up". A "virtual audience" was incorporated into voting. To accommodate social distancing, many of the clue packages used animation by Bento Box Entertainment, the studio behind Bob's Burgers as opposed to live-action filming typically used for their clue packaging.
Contestants The season featured 16 contestants, including "Snow Owls" wearing the first duet costume with its own vehicle, the first costume to have animatronic parts ("Serpent"), and the first puppet costume ("Baby Alien"). The contestants in this season are reported to have a combined net worth over $398 million, 46 Grammy nominations, 23 platinum records, 10 Hall of Fame appearances, and one Olympic gold medal, to collectively have sold over 281 million records, appeared in over 5,475 episodes of television and 151 films, made five Super Bowl appearances, have four stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, hold three world records, one Time 100 honor, and one Oscar nomination in a major category.
+ Results Stage name Celebrity Occupation(s) Episodes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 91012 Group A Group B A B Group C A B C Sun LeAnn Rimes Singer SAFE SAFE WIN WIN WINNER Mushroom Aloe Blacc Singer SAFE SAFE RISK WIN RUNNER-UP Crocodile Nick Carter Singer SAFE SAFE SAFE WIN THIRD Seahorse Tori Kelly Singer SAFE SAFE SAFE OUT Jellyfish Chloe Kim Snowboarder SAFE SAFE WIN OUT Popcorn Taylor Dayne Singer SAFE SAFE RISK OUT Broccoli Paul Anka Singer SAFE SAFE OUT Serpent Dr. Elvis Francois Surgeon/viral video star SAFE SAFE OUT Whatchamacallit Lonzo Ball NBA player SAFE SAFE OUT Snow Owls Clint Black Singer SAFE SAFE OUT Lisa Hartman Black Actor/singer Squiggly Monster Bob Saget Comedian/TV host SAFE OUT Lips Wendy Williams Broadcaster OUT Baby Alien Mark Sanchez Retired NFL player SAFE OUT Giraffe Brian Austin Green Actor SAFE OUT Gremlin Mickey Rourke Actor/boxer WD Dragon Busta Rhymes Rapper OUT
Episodes
Week 1 (September 23) + Performances on the first episode # Stage name Song IdentityResult 1 Sun "Cuz I Love You" by Lizzo SAFE 2 Giraffe "Let's Get It Started" by Black Eyed Peas SAFE 3 Popcorn "What About Us" by P!nk SAFE 4 Dragon "Mama Said Knock You Out" by LL Cool J Busta Rhymes OUT5Snow Owls"Say Something" by A Great Big World SAFE
Week 2 (September 30) + Performances on the second episode # Stage name Song IdentityResult 1 Crocodile "It's My Life" by Bon Jovi SAFE 2 Baby Alien "Faith" by George Michael SAFE 3 Seahorse "Only Girl (In the World)" by Rihanna SAFE 4 Whatchamacallit "I Wish" by Skee-Lo SAFE 5 Serpent "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers SAFE 6 Gremlin "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King Mickey Rourke OUT
Week 3 (October 7) Guest panelist performance: "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke performed by Joel McHale as "The Robin" + Performances on the third episode # Stage name Song IdentityResult 1 Popcorn "Falling" by Harry Styles SAFE 2 Giraffe "Get Down on It" by Kool & the Gang Brian Austin Green OUT3Snow Owls"Like I'm Gonna Lose You" by Meghan Trainor (feat. John Legend) SAFE 4 Sun "Praying" by Kesha SAFE
Week 4 (October 14) + Performances on the fourth episode # Stage name Song IdentityResult 1 Serpent "The Bones" by Maren Morris SAFE 2 Crocodile "Toxic" by Britney Spears SAFE 3 Baby Alien "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons Mark Sanchez OUT 4 Whatchamacallit "Money Maker" by Ludacris (feat. Pharrell Williams) SAFE 5 Seahorse "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion SAFE
Week 5 (October 28) + Performances on the fifth episode # Stage name Song IdentityResult 1 Squiggly Monster "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" by Creedence Clearwater Revival SAFE 2 Mushroom "This Woman's Work" by Maxwell SAFE 3 Jellyfish "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie SAFE 4 Broccoli "The House is Rockin'/Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" by Stevie Ray Vaughan/Jerry Lee Lewis SAFE 5 Lips "Native New Yorker" by Odyssey Wendy Williams OUT
Week 6 (November 4) Guest panelist performance: "Memories" by Maroon 5 performed by Wayne Brady as "Mr. TV". + Performances on the sixth episode # Stage name Song IdentityResult 1 Mushroom "If I Could Turn Back Time" by Cher SAFE 2 Broccoli "Hello" by Lionel Richie SAFE 3 Squiggly Monster "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones Bob Saget OUT 4 Jellyfish "Crazy" by Patsy Cline SAFE
Week 7 (November 11) Group performance: "Raise Your Glass" by P!nk + Performances on the seventh episode # Stage name Song Result 1 Sun "Piece of My Heart" by Janis Joplin WIN 2 Snow Owls "The Prayer" by Andrea Bocelli & Celine Dion RISK 3 Popcorn "Domino" by Jessie J RISKSmackdown Identity Result1Snow Owls "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion Clint Black OUT Lisa Hartman Black 2 Popcorn "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams SAFE
Week 8 (November 18) + Performances on the eighth episode # Stage name Song IdentityResult 1 Seahorse "...Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears SAFE 2 Crocodile "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis SAFE 3 Whatchamacallit "Lean Back" by Terror Squad ft. Fat Joe & Remy Ma Lonzo Ball OUT 4 Serpent "Cool" by Jonas Brothers Dr. Elvis Francois OUT
Week 9 (November 26) Group performance: "I Want You Back" by The Jackson 5 + Performances on the ninth episode # Stage name Song Result 1 Jellyfish "Don't Start Now" by Dua Lipa WIN 2 Mushroom "Unconditionally" by Katy Perry RISK 3 Broccoli "Old Time Rock & Roll" by Bob Seger RISKSmackdown Identity Result 1 Broccoli "Take Me Down" by Alabama Paul Anka OUT 2 Mushroom "A Song for You" by Donny Hathaway SAFE
Week 10 (December 2) Group performance: "Take On Me" by A-ha
Guest panelist performance: "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor performed by Craig Robinson + Performances on the tenth episode # Group Stage name Song IdentityResult 1 B Seahorse "That's What I Like" by Bruno Mars Tori Kelly OUT 2 Crocodile "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith WIN 3 C Mushroom "Valerie" by Amy Winehouse WIN 4 Jellyfish "Stay" by Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko Chloe Kim OUT 5 A Popcorn "Better Be Good to Me" by Tina Turner Taylor Dayne OUT 6 Sun "When the Party's Over" by Billie Eilish WIN
Week 11 (December 16) – Finale Group performance: "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Darlene Love + Performances on the final episode # Stage name Song IdentityResult 1Crocodile "Open Arms" by JourneyNick Carter THIRD PLACE 2Mushroom"I Wish" by Stevie WonderAloe Blacc RUNNER-UP 3Sun"The Story" by Brandi CarlileLeAnn Rimes WINNER
Ratings
Notes
References