Trivia / The Masked Dancer (UK)

• Duelling Works: While the first series was released in May/June 2021 and aired daily, the second series was not released until September 2022 and set to air weekly instead. This was stated on news websites to be specifically to compete with Strictly Come Dancing^note which was originally set to start airing two weeks later before it was postponed due to falling too close to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, despite the fact that the first series featured a few celebrities who have been involved with the show before (including having Strictly professional Oti Mabuse as part of the judging panel^note It soon became apparent that Oti was no longer a professional dance partner as of the 2022 series, though). This is possibly one of the things that led to the show's cancellation.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Because the first series was filmed during the UK's second COVID-19 lockdown, there is no one in the studio audience; instead the contestants are voted for by a virtual audience of viewers watching online from their homes.
  • Rita Ora is absent from this series because she was in Australia for their version of The Voice at the time of filming. Her place is taken by Oti Mabuse, one of the professional dancers from Strictly Come Dancing.
  • Mo Gilligan was absent from the second series as he was taking part in a comedy tour at the time of filming. His place on the panel was taken by Peter Crouch, and he briefly returned as a guest judge in episode 6.
• Recycled Soundtrack: The entrance songs for Onomatopoeia and Pig ("Bang Bang" and "Better Get This Party Started") are the same songs that were respectively used for Sausage and Swan in The Masked Singer (UK). In fact, one of the performances in the first series was to Sausage's entrance song.
• Screwed by the Network: In 2023 it was announced that the show wouldn't be returning for a third season. It's likely that this is because of the poor ratings in the second season due to it airing at the same time as Strictly Come Dancing, as well Joel Dommett, Mo Gilligan (who missed most of the second season), and Oti Mabuse having other commitments on other shows that would make them less available. It would also appear that ITV dropped it in favour of more one-off episodes such as The Masked Singer (UK)'s I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! special in 2022.