The Masked Singer may have been a ratings hit for Channel Ten, but the first celebrity unmasked on last night’s show makes it sound like the whole experience was nothing short of hell for her.
Writer and former Big Brother host Gretel Killeen says that the experience of singing behind a claustrophobic mask and keeping the whole farce secret from loved ones left her feeling ‘completely powerless.’
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‘It was really weird,’ she told news.com.au. ‘And it’s my nature to want to take control, so it was a bit frustrating for a character like mine.
‘It was vulnerable on every level. And of course, you don’t just get up and start singing; it takes years to hone, like any skill. You can hear in my voice — this little nervous budgerigar!
‘Your voice reveals every emotion. I thought, ‘Well, you either do this or you don’t, my friend,’ so I just banged on with it, but I was vulnerable throughout the whole thing.’
While the show has been beset by conspiracy theories about how it really operates, Gretel insists that even the other contestants don’t know who the rest of the performers are.
But that hasn’t stopped the public from rapidly working it out. While The Masked Singer premiered on Monday night, before the show had even aired, the identity of one of the singers had already been leaked in a huge spoiler.
Radio producer Leon Sjogren tweeted a photograph of himself and the Wolf, and tagged the singer’s name in the snap.
The producer from Fox FM’s Fifi, Fev & Byron show posted the photo to Twitter and tagged Australian actor and singer Rob Mills as the Wolf.
There was no getting away from the blatant spoiler as Leon captioned the Twitter photo: ‘Me with @RobMillsyMills earlier today. #MaskedSingerAU.’
As for the premise of the show, which is supposed to be about singing, viewers are questioning whether the vocals are truly live, despite Channel Ten insisting that they are.
Viewers took to Twitter in large numbers to voice their deep suspicions, amid scenes of performers in heavy character masks gyrating on stage while their vocals remained largely clear and consistent.
‘So im confused – how is this live?’ wrote one user, followed by another, who said, ‘Hey #MaskedSingerAU, why give mics when they’re masked, they’re surely not singing live then?!’
Others were more disgruntled at the possibility of The Masked Singer being a farce.
‘Everyone knows that no one in singing live on this sh*t right? Literally the worst show on TV,’ said one user.
However, judge Jackie O Henderson is adamant that they are singing live.
‘I’ve seen a set malfunction happen and something fell on one of the singers and the singing stopped straight away,’ Jackie told The Advertiser. ‘They are singing live – 100 per cent fact.’
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