The Masked Singer is ready to roll out more surprises than ever before for season 12.
Before panelists Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Ken Jeong, Rita Ora and Robin Thicke return to the show to guess a brand-new group of masked celebrities, host Nick Cannon is teasing the addition of Masked Ambassadors.
“Masked Ambassadors are really cool because they’re really friends of whoever’s behind the mask,” Cannon, 43, exclusively told Us Weekly at Fox’s Fall Press Day. “Sometimes they’ve been on the show, they have a connection to the show and it just gives you an extra clue of who the celebrity might be. You can hear about their inside jokes and things with how they know.”
In even simpler terms, they provide extra little hints to viewers hoping to correctly guess the star before the big reveal.
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While Fox isn’t sharing all of the Ambassadors just yet, they have teased a few familiar faces including legendary actor Dick Van Dyke. (He previously appeared as season 9’s Gnome.)
“To me, that was one of the greatest reveals and greatest performances that we’ve had on the show,” Cannon proclaimed. “For him to come back and be an ambassador was really cool.”
Following tradition, The Masked Singer will also have various theme nights including an evening dedicated to Miley Cyrus.
“Miley Cyrus Night was a fun night,” Cannon teased. “All of her music is great so to see the people performing that, it was some fun.”
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While he’s not ready to confirm or deny if the “Party in the USA” singer makes a surprise appearance this season, he would absolutely be interested in collaborating with the Hannah Montana actress in the future.
“I’m a huge Miley Cyrus fan, so, yeah,” Cannon said. “Yeah, I would definitely love to get in the studio with her.
Cannon also promised fans will enjoy a Barbie and Footloose themed evening in upcoming episodes.
“We get a cool Kevin Bacon surprise,” he shared. “It’s a lot of fun stuff that we get to have — and wear some interesting outfits.”
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The Masked Singer is described as a top-secret singing competition show in which celebrities face off against each other and appear in elaborate costumes with full face masks to conceal their identities. Past winners include Vanessa Hudgens, Jewel, Ne-Yo, Nick Lachey and LeAnn Rimes.
Season 12 of The Masked Singer premieres on Fox Wednesday, September 25, at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Sarah Jones
