The Masked Dancer is an American reality dancing competition Talent Show that began airing on Fox in December 2020
Hosted by Craig Robinson, it is a spin-off of The Masked Singer; much like its parent show, the premise involves a total of 10 competitors going head to head with each other in each episode, only this time dancing a number, with a panel of judges which includes Ashley Tisdale, Brian Austin Green (who was also a contestant on Season 4 of The Masked Singer as Giraffe), Paula Abdul, Ken Jeong (who is also a judge on The Masked Singer), and an occasional rotating guest panelist and the studio audience voting on which ones are best. The losers of each match-up then get together at the end of each episode, with the contestant with the lowest votes being selected for unmasking — and elimination.
The twist here comes from the contestants all being known celebrities dancing anonymously, wearing fancy costumes and only being referred to as their character: the identity of the contestant is only revealed after they are eliminated. Their voices are also synthesized to further confuse the judges. Viewers and the judges are given clues (primarily in the form of a short video introducing the contestant and alluding to their personal life, as well as physical clues brought on stage), and the judges are encouraged to share their speculation on who each contestant might be.
A UK version of this show aired in late Spring 2021.
This show provides examples of:
- Clueless Detective: Continuing from Singer, Ken.
- To a lesser extent, Ashley Tisdale is also this due to her overly big and off-key guesses.
- Commercial Break Cliffhanger: The final wave of commercials usually appear before the eliminated contestant is revealed.
- Dance Party Ending: With each encore focusing on dancing rather than a song reprise, the ending of each episode naturally has this.
- Dramatic Unmask: The contestant with the least amount of votes at the end of the show gets to reveal their identity.
- Spin-Off: It is not only a spin-off of The Masked Singer, but of The Ellen DeGeneres Show — which originally did The Masked Dancer as a recurring segment spoofing The Masked Singer. Ellen always joked that Fox hadn't sued her over it yet: instead, they asked her to executive produce it for real.
- The Host: Craig Robinson is the emcee this time around.
- I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: Exotic Bird happens to be Jordin Sparks, who won a season of American Idol during Paula Abdul's tenure as judge.
- The Men in Black: Actually gender-swapped this time around—The Masked Dancer has the Women in Black. They still serve the same role that the Men in Black have in Singer, though.
