Overview

The Masked Dancer began as a recurring segment on Ellen DeGeneres' daytime talk show which spoofed The Masked Singer. The reality competition television series was announced at Fox's winter Television Critics Association press tour in January 2020, with DeGeneres as an executive producer.

The Masked Dancer premiered on Fox TV on December 27, 2020. Originally expected to debut in the middle of 2020, production was delayed until October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The show was hosted by Craig Robinson, with Paula Abdul, Ken Jeong, Brian Austin Green (who performed as "Giraffe" on The Masked Singer's fourth season), and Ashley Tisdale serving as panelists. Guest panelists included Cheryl Hines in the third episode, Rob Lowe in the fourth episode, Whitney Cummings in the fifth episode, Mayim Bialik in the sixth episode, and Will Arnett in the seventh episode.

The Masked Dancer is a spin-off of the hit FOX TV show The Masked Singer. Like The Masked Singer's format, celebrity contestants — some with extensive training and others without — perform hip-hop, tap, salsa, and other dance numbers as over-the-top characters that conceal their identities, including Sloth, Moth, and Ice Cube. The judges watched the performances and attempt to guess the celebrity performer. The audience votes for which performance they liked best, determining who is unmasked and who continues in the competition.

The Masked Dancer format emulated The Masked Singer with some changes necessary for a dancing competition. Contestants were judged by their dancing ability verses singing. The contestants wore elaborate costumes, designed to be easier to dance in. The Masked Dancer contestants were able to speak, but like The Masked Singer, their voices were also disguised. A new segment called “Word Up” allowed the contestants to say a single word in their natural voice. "Because of that, it's harder. I mean, you have to really depend on the clues. You can't just hear a voice and go, 'I'm familiar with that voice.' You can't say, 'I'm familiar with that step,' from someone who does it," Paula said. "So, the clues are jam packed in the package pieces, but there are clues in some of the costumes, there are clues in some of the choreography, and also on the set design."

The series featured ten contestants, announced on November 4, 12, and 25, 2020. Collectively, the contestants of the first season have sold more than 38 million albums worldwide, 20 Emmy Awards wins, 20 Grammy nominations, 10 World Dancing titles, five New York Times Best-Selling Author titles, four Olympic gold medals, and three appearances in Broadway shows.

At the end of the series, Paula had the most correct guesses on the panel. Abdul correctly guessed Brian McKnight as Cricket, Jordin Sparks as Exotic Bird, Maksim Chmerkovskiy as Sloth, and Gabby Douglas as Cotton Candy. Brian Austin Green was close behind with three correct guesses. Gabby Douglas won the Diamond Mask trophy in the Season 1 finale.

Throughout the series, Paula made several appearances promoting The Masked Dancer, including stops on Good Day L.A., On Air with Ryan Seacrest, The Talk, and The Kelly Clarkson Show. Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson (who was promoting Name that Tune also airing on FOX) chatted with fans on Instagram Live before their January 13th episodes aired.