THE Masked Singer has been engulfed in a new fix row as fans have claimed the show exits were ‘set up in advance’.
Huge stars have so far left the popular ITV show which include legendary singer Dionne Warwick and Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas.
Last week on The Masked Singer, Julia Sawalha took her mask off as she was unveiled as Bubble Tea.
This was the same week that her former Absolutely Fabulous co-star Jennifer Saunders was serving as a guest judge on the singing competition.
With the show being pre-recorded, huge high-profile early exits and a convenient link to the judging panel, some fans are suspicious.
One viewer took to social media site Reddit as they questioned whether the outcomes of the show were predetermined.
They wrote: “I think almost every ‘reality’ type show has certain elements that aren’t left to chance, shall we say. How much do we think that applies to The Masked Singer?
“Every season the first or second one to be voted out often seems to be an ageing singer who in theory should be too good to go out that early.
“I have a theory that some are signed on a shorter contract than others, maybe knowing that they’ll only be on the first episode as they don’t want to commit to the whole series.
“Judges are told who needs to be voted off (potentially not told who that person really is though). This also saves anyone else the embarrassment of being the first loser if that position is already pre-determined.
“There are other suspect moments as well such as Julia Sawalha being voted off in the most recent episode.”
They added: “She was far, far better than Owl so all signs just pointed to the fact they wanted to engineer a touching/amusing moment with her former colleague Jennifer Saunders. Maybe I’m cynical but that didn’t feel like a coincidence.”
Other fans responded that there might be more to this fury than meets the eye.
One fan claimed: “It’s probably less scripted than Professional Wrestling but more scripted than a show that has a public vote like Strictly.”
Another noted: “I do feel that is the case in the Masked Singer as it can’t truly be live in most cases. It’s also why the US series has seen Busta Rhymes and Kermit the Frog amongst its first exits.”
As a third thought: “I think Dionne Warwick was definitely only meant to be on for one episode. I’d imagine those costumes are heavy and difficult to manoeuvre in. I’d imagine it’d be hard for someone who’s older to be in them more than once. It’d be a fun day out!”
Whilst a fourth added: “I think Julia was a fix. I don’t believe Dionne was, as it’s not a ‘best singer’ competition, it’s a ‘who’s behind the mask’ and since everyone clearly knew it was her, it was pointless her being there another week and then someone who the audience/panel didn’t know going.”
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