About

Eight contestants from various professions wear masks and compete in a tournament format to crown a winner and the Mask King. Divided into pairs, they compete through votes from the audience and a celebrity judging panel. The winner proceeds directly to the waiting room without removing their mask, while the loser unmasks and reveals their identity. Contestants are recruited by the production team and practice separately in a rehearsal room one week prior. Song selection proceeds by the planning team notifying the singers of a preliminary list, from which the singers then choose. While the pilot aired from the preliminaries to the finals in a single episode, the regular programming follows a format where the quarterfinals (Round 1) air in the first week, followed by the semifinals (Round 2), the final (Round 3), and the Mask King defense match in the second week. Round 1 consists of duet battles. To ensure the quality of the performance rather than just fairness in matching strong against weak, strong contestants are usually paired with other strong contestants. This is because a match between a skilled singer and a novice can result in an awkward, low-quality stage. Consequently, famous singers sometimes drop out in the first round, while less skilled performers may advance to the second round. As an exception, the second regular competition featured individual songs instead of duets in the first round. After the performance, the MC asks the masked singers to perform personal talents or conducts interviews, during which the celebrity panel attempts to guess their identities based on voice and intonation. Later, phone calls with the contestants' acquaintances may provide hints to the panel. From the finals onward, the time is filled with the celebrity panel sharing their impressions of the songs. From Round 2, contestants sing songs they prepared individually, with the first pair performing first. Because even powerful, famous singers who lose in the first round get to sing one more song before leaving, there is no sense of shame or ridicule involved. The 99-member judging panel consists of 11–13 celebrity judges (occasionally 14–16) and 86–88 general audience members (occasionally 83–85).