TV Everything to know about The Masked Singer season 12: From celebrity ambassadors to all-new clues The new season premiered Wednesday, Sept. 25. By Lauren Huff Lauren Huff Lauren Huff is a writer at Entertainment Weekly with over a decade of experience covering all facets of the entertainment industry. After graduating with honors from the University of Texas at Austin (Hook 'em, Horns!), Lauren wrote about film, television, awards season, music, and more for the likes of The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood, Us Weekly, Awards Circuit, and others before landing at EW in May 2019. EW's editorial guidelines Updated on October 3, 2024 09:08PM EDT 12 seasons in and The Masked Singer is still keeping viewers on their toes. Never keen to just rest on its laurels, the Fox reality competition series is once again finding new ways to innovate and keep viewers engaged as they try to uncover each masked celebrity's identity. As such, there are several new twists this season to go along with the 15 brand new contestants, but there are some familiar show beats as well. Once again, Entertainment Weekly is rounding up all of that and everything else we know so far about season 12, below. The Masked Singer season 12 reveals: See every unmasked celebrity contestant When does The Masked Singer season 12 premiere and how can I watch? The new season starts on Wednesday, Sept. 25 from 8-9 p.m. ET/PT on Fox. Viewers can catch up on the show on Hulu, Fox.com, Tubi, and On Demand. On Demand episodes are available for customers of Cox Contour TV, DIRECTV, DISH, fuboTV, Hulu + Live TV, Optimum, Spectrum, Verizon FiOS, XFINITY, YouTube TV, and many more. 'The Masked Singer' panel, including Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, and Ken Jeong. Fox Who are the panelists and host this season? The panelists and host from season 11 remain unchanged for season 12. British singer-songwriter and The Masked Singer UK panelist Rita Ora is once again stepping in for Nicole Scherzinger. Longtime panelists Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Ken Jeong, and Robin Thicke are all returning as well, as is host Nick Cannon. It's unclear exactly what their roles are yet, but a recent promo for the show teased the return of William Shatner (season 8's Knight), Nikki Glaser (season 8's Snowstorm), Nick Lachey (season 5 winner Piglet) and Joel McHale as guest stars or potential Masked Ambassadors (more on that, below). The Masked Singer's best performances from every season What are the Masked Ambassadors? For the first time in the show's history, each contestant this season will have a Masked Ambassador — someone who is an alum of the series who has a connection to that singer, and provides major new clues about their famous friends’ identities. Dick Van Dyke (season 9’s Gnome), Jewel (season 6's winner Queen of Hearts), Ne-Yo (season 10's winner Cow) and DeMarcus Ware (season 11’s Koala) have been confirmed so far. Showrunner Rosie Seitchik didn't want to spoil too much of the fun, but did tease to EW that the ambassadors are "presenting the new singers to us in newfangled clue packages in their premiere episodes. I'll leave it at that for right now. But they're basically being ushered into the season via the endorsement of an old masked singer." Showbird on 'The Masked Singer' season 12. Fox Are the clues the same? Not exactly. While clue packages are still a thing, in another first for the show, clues are also being heavily worked into the costumes themselves. Some costumes are a hint in and of themselves, and others feature clues sewn directly onto the outfits. As Seitchik explains it, "Some costumes are a larger clue to who the people are based on the character itself. And then others have more specific objects. And it's really based on the design, whether the design necessitates putting objects and props within them." One such example of the latter is Dust Bunny, below. EW can confirm that clues that appear somewhere on Dust Bunny include a toy car, glittery ice dancing costume material, a lollipop, an air freshener that hangs from a car's rearview mirror, and popcorn. Seitchik even teased that the clues could change throughout the season. Dust Bunny on 'The Masked Singer' season 12. Fox See The Masked Singer season 12's first performance, new costumes, and Ken Jeong losing his mind Are there new theme nights this season? Yes! All-new themes include Miley Cyrus Night, Barbie Night, Footloose Night (which will feature a video appearance by star Kevin Bacon himself), Sports Night, '60s Night, and a first-of-its-kind Who Are You Fest, featuring music from memorable festival lineups. Thanksgiving Night and Soundtrack of My Life themes from past seasons will also return. As always, pay attention in the theme nights, because the themes will be woven throughout the performers’ song selections, costumes, special celebrity guests, set design, and might even provide more clues as to who is under the mask. Masked Singer announces Footloose and Miley Cyrus theme nights, plus Dick Van Dyke and Jewel return What are the season 12 costumes? Fox has officially unveiled all of the season 12 costumes and their groupings ahead of the premiere. They are as follows: Group A: Buffalo, Leaf Sheep, Showbird, Ship, and Woodpecker Group B: Wasp, Goo, Dust Bunny, Chess Piece, and Bluebell Group C: Strawberry Shortcake, Sherlock Hound, Royal Knight, Macaron, Ice King See the disguises in all their glory in EW's costume roundup. Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more. What are the clues for the contestants? The season 12 contestants boast a combined 21 Grammy nominations, 68 million records sold worldwide, 336 years in the spotlight, 14 Emmy nominations, 67 million records sold, 4988 television appearances, 115 magazine covers, and 5 know Taylor Swift! See EW's ongoing roundup of every clue for each contestant so far.