Who knew The Badger and the Sausage would become TV stars? Escapism is more vital than ever now – and nobody is doing it better than this ITV show
If someone had told you a year ago that you’d look forward to a badger singing Feeling Good on a Saturday night, you may not have believed them. But the last 12 months have done strange things to the world, and the second series of the ITV show The Masked Singer, where badgers, sausages and dragons belt their hearts out on primetime, feels like the perfect television for our times.
For those new to the show, the rules are simple. Celebrity contestants dress in extravagant costumes which give them a new fantasy character, such as Viking, Harlequin or Grandfather Clock. They give clues as to their identity in an introductory video, then perform a song live for the judges – the UK panel consists of Rita Ora, Davina McCall and Jonathan Ross, joined this series by Bafta-winning comedian Mo Gilligan – who guess who they are. The studio audience vote for their favourites and then the judges pick one contestant to be unmasked from the three with the lowest vote.
