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Masked Singer finale gets creative (but special ignores COVID outbreak)

Producers find creative solution.... but edit out the show's biggest story of the season.

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The Masked Singer last night filmed its grand finale, regrouping after its COVID-19 outbreak.

But while it had been flagged as a “proper” finale with no zooming, it got very creative to deal with its 2020 curveball.

The Age reports Osher Gunsberg and Jackie O. were back in Sydney following their mandatory lockdown. Both were given a quarantine exemption from NSW authorities given they had already spent the time in Melbourne. They appeared in the grand final in a Sydney studio dressed to resemble the Melbourne staging.

No such luck for Urzila Carlson who is undergoing another 14 days of hotel iso having returned to New Zealand. She appears in the finale via her laptop.

Dannii Minogue and Dave Hughes returned to the show’s Melbourne set where Queen, Frill Neck and Bushranger performed for the grand final. A panel of fans again voted online last night.

Meanwhile 10 screened an Unmasked special last night, just as it had done during last year’s season. The special was designed to go behind the scenes into the costumes and security surrounding the show.

But while the show made headlines for its COVID outbreak last month, none of it featured in the special. Talk about ignoring the elephant in the room (and not just the ones in the moshpit). While producers didn’t need to detail who had tested positive, the shutdown should have been included. After all, that’s what this season will be remembered for.

Not Hughesy’s dad-dancing.

13 Responses

  2. I don’t understand why Jackie and Osher flew to Sydney just before they filmed the final. Would have thought for the sake of a couple of days they could have stuck around.

    The season will be remembered for Ursula’s awful guesses. She is either told to be absurd or completely out of touch with reality.

    2. Jackie said on her KIIS radio show this morning that had she stayed in Melbourne for the finale last night, she would have to go into self-isolation for another two weeks before she would be able to return to Sydney.

    3. Yeah it’s interesting. Just speculating, but I wonder if Jackie and Osher then would’ve had to do Hotel quarantine in Sydney as well, given they’d technically have broken their isolation. Would be a tough blow for both (Osher with Bachelorette filming and Jackie not seeing her daughter for another two weeks). I think the audience will be understanding of very difficult circumstances, especially given it’s just one episode.

    4. Correct. I will not only remember her hilariously absurd guesses, but also her hilarious justifications.
      Dave’s playing it a bit straighter this year but the show is absurd so they need Urzila. I hope she’s back!

  3. Why focus on Covid?? Yes it is topical but also depressing. If watch the show you can clearly see they are dealing with it with masks and barriers between judges. Nothing else needs to be said.

    1. The special was about behind the scenes. It was the most drama the show had behind the scenes. I wasn’t expecting it to jeopardise privacy, but I thought we would see something like this: spotlight off / montage of newspaper headlines / Osher & panel sadly zooming from hotel / Phone call :”We’re back!” etc. It was odd to leave it out.

  5. I take it that there won’t be a group number this year? While I was indifferent to the choice of song that they used last year, it was definitely one of the highlights of the season, and it was great to see those who were only on the show for one or two episodes.

    I also thought that they would have filmed this over the weekend at the latest. I’m impressed by the quick turnaround. I imagine that much of the running time will be comprised of pre-edited packages though (how much can they pad out three or four 90 second performances over 70 minutes?).

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