The Masked Singer UK...2021

Although I think with the like of Ne-Yo and Gabrielle and Morten Harket to an extent the show works on a different level of rediscovering older stars who may no longer have recogniseable faces, but do have voices worth remembering.

I did think maybe Ne-Yo wouldn't like to be called older, but then I remembered that So Sick was 15 years ago.... ouch.

Kelis and Skin weren't necessarily household "faces" either.. though probably with the success of the show it's now easier for them to get bigger names to do it, and only Covid stopped them getting more international ones this time

I suppose the whole idea is to bring in stars "under the masks" that younger and older viewers will have some sort of knowledge of, even if they don't know them fully?

People might not know them because they were either too young to understand them in their hey-day, or the clues have flown over their head, name on the tip of their tongue.etc

Not knowing who someone is is almost as important as knowing who they are when it comes to the guessing game element of this.

Exactly, that's the idea of the show.

Well, as the final is right up against us, I thought I'd offer this thought. At least this season (whether by accident or design due to the obvious) it has sorted the biggest gripe I had with series 1.

In that there were so many clues, that you knew who all - or some - of the finalists were behind the mask. This time, I have a short list for two of them, and no clue at all for one of them. So, it has actually made this series final less of a 'dead rubber' than the last one.

And a production point of view. How do they do the one shots of the panellists during the perfomances?

Is it a case of having one fixed lockout of all of them, then have 1 camera for two of them (Mo/Davina & Rita/Johnathan) and they zoom in to each one for the comments during the performance in post-prod? Just interest how that's pulled off, given the restricted space for the camera operators on the ganatry directly opposite the judges desk.

I've actually found it easier to guess them this year.. but perhaps I wouldn't have done if I wasn't reading what other people were saying online and just watched the show.

Certainly seems like the judges have taken longer (I feel deliberately) to say the right names. A bit convenient that nobody mentioned Gabrielle for several weeks then the week she goes she gets 4 out of 5 judges naming her.

Right today's the day of the final-my final guesses

Sausage-Sheridan Smith (as i refuse to believe for 1 minute it's Stacey Solomon like some are claiming, the clues don't fit!)
Robin-Aston Merrygold
Badger-This is one i'm not certain about but i'm going for Damon Albarn however the clue about Spreading cheer should be for the whole year, not just at Christmas means it might not be him.

Robin - Aston Merrygold
Badger - Ne-Yo
Sausage - Stacey Solomon/Joss Stone

My preferred order would be:

3rd - Sausage
2nd - Badger
1st - Robin

Stacey Solomon has just got a sausage dog so she has to be sausage right?!

Love how the tabloids put 2+2 and get 5 like that sometimes!

After looking at the clues given over the weeks.( VT's, Visuals, song performances, ).

ROBIN should be and i agree with the majority that the clues belong to ASTON MERRYGOLD (JLS).

Possibly Sausage will win????