Kaukės (Masks) is a Lithuanian reality singing competition television series based on the Masked Singer franchise which originated from the South Korean version of the show King of Mask Singer. Production was announced in November 2019. The first season premiered on LNK on 13 September 2020.
Production A group of celebrities compete anonymously on stage, singing in full costumes over a series of episodes. The competing celebrities have to sign strict confidentiality agreement and they cannot tell anybody (their friends and families) that they are competing in project Kaukės. During interviews their voices are distorted by special programs and they only sing as best as they can without any special effects. Each episode, a portion of the competitors are paired off into face-off competitions, in which each will perform a song of his or her choice. From each face-off, the panelists vote: the winners safe for the week, while the loser is put up for elimination. At the end of the episode, the losers of the face-offs are then subjected to new votes of the panelists to determine who will not continue; the eliminated singer then enters the stage where they turn their back to the camera, takes off their mask, then turn around to reveal his/her identity.
In addition to the singing competition, hints to each masked singer's identity are offered during the show. Pre-taped interviews are given as hints and feature the celebrities' distorted voices. The panelists are given time to speculate the identity of the singer after the performance and ask them a single question, or the contestant provides a clue about themselves or they bring their things as clues and panelists try to determine their identity. In the first season the winner was picked by panelists, in the second, panelists had only one option to pick the third-place winner and for the last two contestants only the audience voted and picked the winner. And in the third season only the audience voted for all three contestants.
The process of contestants getting to the arena is that they are getting messages from the director as to where they need to drive to the agreed place. Later they are picked up from that place by guards in a car with tinted windows. Contestants have to put on a black hoodie and black face shield. The arena is cleared so that no people can enter there and the contestant is lead to his or her room by guards. They spend whole day in that room and they cannot leave that room alone. They have contacts to people that they can only talk to. Only five people know who competes in the project. Then the time comes for the contestant to perform, and they put on their costumes (there are helped by stylists to put on costumes) and they go to stage to perform.
Costumes The costumes are partly replicates that were used in other international versions as well as national motifs such as Šakotis.
Panelists and host
Popular actor and comedian Giedrius Savickas presents the show. The panel includes Vaidotas Valiukevičius, lead-singer of The Roop, radio host Livija Gradauskiene, TV host Indre Kavaliauskaite, fashion designer Aleksandras Pogrebnojus and the basketball players Darju and Krzysztof Lavrinovic. Later on season 2 Aleksandras Pogrebnojus wasn't on the panel anymore. His place took singer Monika Liu. On the 3rd season there was a new panel. Monika Liu continued as panelist and there have been 4 new panelists: singer Vidas Bareikis, singer and winner of Kaukės season 1 Rūta Ščiogolevaitė, influencer Paul de Miko and designer Robertas Kalinkinas. On the 4th season Monika Liu and Robertas Kalinkinas continued to be panelists and there were 3 new panelists: Toma Vaškevičiūtė (she previously participated in the first season as "Pelėda"), Simona Nainė (she previously participated as guest mask in the third season as "Ančiukas") and Stano (he previously participated and won the third season as "Burokėlis")
Guest masks & panelists On later episodes guest masks made an appearance by performing a song out of competition at the beginning of the show. The panel then gave their guesses before an instant reveal. The guests then occasionally joined the panel for the ongoing episode.
Episode Name Notability Ref. 8 Justė Žičkutė ("Šienas") TV Host 9 Leonardas Pobedonoscevas ("Elnias") Actor Tatjana Lavrinovič ("Gėlė") Former Mrs Globe winner 11 Edgaras Lubys ("Elnias") Musician Ironvytas ("Šienas") Rapper Samanta Tīna ("Gėlė") Singer 8 Nerijus Juška ("Kiaušinis") Ballet Dancer 9 Danas Rapšys ("Pingvinas") Swimmer Karolina Meschino ("Ledai") Influencer 11 Rokas Bernatonis ("Kūgis") Magician 12 Simona Nainė ("Ančiukas") Businesswoman Indrė Stonkuvienė ("Fejerverkas") Influencer
Season synopsis
Season 1 (2020)
Stage name Celebrity Notability Episodes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Vienaragis ("Unicorn") Rūta Ščiogolevaitė SingerWIN SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE RISK RISK WINNER Boružėlė ("Ladybug") Ilona Balsytė ActressWIN SAFE SAFE SAFE RISK SAFE SAFE SAFE WIN RUNNER-UP Višta ("Hen") (WC) Simonas Storpirštis Actor SAFE SAFE SAFE WIN THIRD Lapė ("Fox") Inga Stumbrienė BusinesswomanWIN SAFE RISK SAFESAFESAFE SAFE SAFE OUT Pelėda ("Owl") Toma Vaškevičiūtė ActressWIN RISK SAFE RISK SAFE SAFE RISK OUT Liūtas ("Lion") Egidijus Sipavičius SingerWIN SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE RISK OUT Šakotis ("Spit Cake") Andrius Bialobzeskis Actor RISK SAFE RISK SAFESAFE OUT Panda Josif Baliukevičius Actor RISK SAFE SAFE SAFE OUT Voras ("Spider") Karina Krysko SingerWIN SAFE SAFE OUT Monstras ("Monster") Žydrūnas Savickas Strongman RISK SAFE OUT Debesėlis ("Cloud") Zilvinas Grigaitis Businessman RISK OUT Robotas ("Robot") Rolandas Mackevičius TV Host OUT Bananas ("Banana") Simas Jasaitis Basketball Player OUT
Episodes Episode 1 (13 September) +Performances on the first episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Spider "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen WIN 2 Banana "39" by Saulius Prūsaitis Simas Jasaitis OUT 3 Lion "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer WIN 4 Spit Cake "Medžiai Be Lapų" by Poliarizuoti Stiklai RISK 5 Monster "Sirdele Mano" by Vytautas Kernagis RISK 6 Fox "Dance Monkey" by Tones and I WIN
Episode 2 (19 September) +Performances on the second episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Panda "Human" by Rag'n'Bone Man RISK 2 Ladybug "Angelas baltas" by Taja WIN 3 Cloud "Flames of Love" by Fancy RISK 4 Unicorn "Po dangum" by Monika Linkytė WIN 5 Owl "I'm Like a Bird" by Nelly Furtado WIN 6 Robot "Pažiūrėk į mane, Mama" by Vidas Bareikis Rolandas Mackevičius OUT
Episode 3 (27 September) +Performances on the third episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Lion "Thunder" by Imagine Dragons SAFE 2 Ladybug "Planai" by Moniqué SAFE 3 Spit Cake "Let's Twist Again" by Chubby Checker SAFE 4 Owl "2mbla" by Pompo RISK 5 Panda "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi feat. Daddy Yankee SAFE 6 Cloud "Labai norėčiau" by Naktinės personos Zilvinas Grigaitis OUT 7 Spider "Don't Start Now" by Dua Lipa SAFE 8 Monster "Karalių Paslaptys" by Karališka Erdvė SAFE 9 Fox "Let It Go" by Idina Menzel SAFE 10 Unicorn "On Fire" by The Roop SAFE
Episode 4 (11 October) +Performances on the fourth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Unicorn "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd SAFE 2 Owl "Lūpytės" by Baltasis Kiras SAFE 3 Spit Cake "This Love" by Maroon 5 RISK 4 Monster "Ežero Dugne" by Vidas Bareikis Žydrūnas Savickas OUT 5 Lion "Every Breath You Take" by The Police SAFE 6 Ladybug "Kelias Pas Tave" by Rebelheart SAFE 7 Fox "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga RISK 8 Panda "Dalis Manęs" by Gabrielius Vagelis SAFE 9 Spider "Just Like Fire" by Pink SAFE
Episode 5 (18 October) +Performances on the fifth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Spider "Pusvalanduko" By Vidas Bareikis Karina Krysko OUT 2 Lion "Piece of Your Heart" by Meduza feat. Goodboys SAFE 3 Ladybug "Ruduo" by GJan SAFE 4 Panda "Bella ciao" by Goran Bregović SAFE 5 Unicorn "Stayin' Alive" by Bee Gees SAFE 6 Fox "Mažulė" by Antikvariniai Kašpirovskio Dantys SAFE 7 Spit Cake "Liūdna Švente" by Džordana Butkutė SAFE 8 Owl "Me Too" by Meghan Trainor RISK
Episode 6 (25 October) +Performances on the sixth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Spit Cake "Šiandien Tu Man Graži" by Mantas Jankavičius SAFE 2 Lion "Shotgun" by George Ezra SAFE 3 Owl "Laikas" by Gintariniai Laikai SAFE 4 Ladybug "Lovefool" by The Cardigans SAFE 5 Fox "Trys milijonai" by Marijonas Mikutavičius SAFE 6 Panda "Feeling Good" by Michael Bublé Josif Baliukevičius OUT 7 Unicorn "Chandelier" by Sia SAFE
Episode 7 (1 November) +Performances on the seventh episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Lion "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars RISK 2 Ladybug "Mėlyna Mėlyna" by Sisters On Wire SAFE 3 Owl "Po Mano Oda" by Leon Somov & Jazzu SAFE Wildcard Hen "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" by Backstreet Boys SAFE 5 Spit Cake "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" by Meat Loaf feat. Lorraine Crosby Andrius Bialobzeskis OUT 6 Unicorn "Dviese" by Vaidas Baumila & Monika Pundziūtė-Moniqué SAFE 7 Fox "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" by Marilyn Monroe SAFE
Episode 8 (8 November) +Performances on the eighth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Hay "Superstar" by Beatrich Justė Žičkutė GUEST 2 Ladybug "Viskas Bus Gerai" by Donny Montell SAFE 3 Unicorn "Bad Guy" by Billie Eilish SAFE 4 Owl "Laimei" by Hiperbolė RISK 5 Fox "7 Rings" by Ariana Grande SAFE 6 Hen "Taip Jau Gavosi" by Sisters on Wire SAFE 7 Lion "Circle of Life" by Elton John Egidijus Sipavičius OUT
Episode 9 (22 November) +Performances on the ninth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Deer "Miškų dukra" by Egidijus Sipavičius Leonardas Pobedonoscevas GUEST 2 Owl "Love Runs Out" by OneRepublic Toma Vaškevičiūtė OUT 3 Fox "Love Me like You Do" by Ellie Goulding SAFE 4 Hen "Giant" by Calvin Harris and Rag'n'Bone Man SAFE 5 Flower "Nenoriu Grįžt Namo" by Moniqué Tatjana Lavrinovič GUEST 6 Ladybug "Kažkas atsitiko" by Antis SAFE 7 Unicorn "Believer" by Imagine Dragons RISK
Episode 10 – Semi-final (29 November) Group performance: "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)" by Fergie, Q-Tip, and GoonRock
+Performances on the tenth episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Hen "Sportas" by SKAMP WIN 2 Fox "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift RISK 3 Ladybug "Kol myliu" by Ieva Zasimauskaitė WIN 4 Unicorn "Più bella cosa" by Eros Ramazzotti RISK Face-off details Identity Result 5 Fox "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" by Beyoncé Inga Stumbrienė OUT 6 Unicorn "Uzrakinta Surakinta" by Mokinukės SAFE
Episode 11 – Finale (6 December) +Performances on the eleventh episode # Stage name Song Identity Result 1 Deer, Hay and Flower "I Gotta Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas Edgaras Lubys, Ironvytas, & Samanta Tīna GUESTS 2 Ladybug "Kalėdų Eglutė" by Kardiofonas SAFE 3 Hen "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr. Simonas StorpirštisTHIRD 4 Unicorn "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson SAFE Face-off details Identity Result 5 Ladybug "Soldi" by Mahmood Ilona Balsytė RUNNER-UP 6 Unicorn "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper Rūta Ščiogolevaitė WINNER
Season 2 (2021)