Get ready to see a new batch of celebrities showing off their dancing skills while dressed in some bizarre costumes, as The Masked Dancer is back for a second season.
The series premiered last year following the success of The Masked Singer and saw gymnast Louis Smith, aka Carwash, crowned as the first ever champion of the show.
Now, the season 2 line-up has been confirmed, with some equally bizarre characters – from Onomatopoeia to Scissors, Candlestick and Odd Socks.
And it’s not only the characters who are new for season 2 – there’s a brand new judge joining the panel! This year, former footballer Peter Crouch takes over from Mo Gilligan, who was unable to take part due to other filming commitments.
So when does it start?
Read on for everything you need to know about The Masked Dancer season 2, including when it’s likely to air, and who all the contestants in the line-up are.
The Masked Dancer 2022 start date
An official start date hasn’t been confirmed just yet, however, The Masked Dancer 2022 was announced as part of the channel’s Autumn slate so it’s likely to air later this year.
Did The Masked Dancer get cancelled?
There were concerns about the second season of The Masked Dancer. ITV’s Head of Entertainment Katie Radcliffe previously revealed that the broadcaster was considering the future of a few entertainment programmes which made their 2021 debuts while appearing at the Edinburgh TV Festival last year.
As well as The Masked Dancer, it was thought that Vernon Kay’s Game of Talents and Cooking with the Stars with Emma Willis and Tom Allen could also be scrapped due to underwhelming viewership figures.
“We’ve tried new stuff and we’re going to sit down and take stock of everything we’ve tried over the last few months and work out what we’re going to take forward, what we’ll do again and how we’ll do it,” Radcliffe said via The Mirror.
“I think it’s too early to say if they will be back, we are looking at the stuff we did over the summer and before the summer, like Game of Talents, Masked Dancer, we’re looking at all of those and having those conversations soon.”
Commending the “fantastic shows”, she concluded: “So we don’t take any of those decisions lightly for those reasons, and we don’t like to rush them. We talk internally and we talk to audience research, so we are taking our time with all of that at the moment.”
Who won The Masked Dancer season 1?
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Louis Smith was crowned as the winner of The Masked Dancer season 1 following a tightly-fought final. He was disguised as Carwash throughout the series.
Bonnie Langford as Squirrel came second and Howard Donald disguised as Zip came third.
What is The Masked Dancer?
It is hard to explain what The Masked Dancer is without it sounding like a fever dream, but we will try our best.
Twelve celebrities take to a stage and dance their hearts out to impress the judges and the audience – the audience in this case is all virtual due to COVID restrictions. But adding to the fun is an assortment of costumes that the dancers will wear to hide their identities. They range from a beagle to a llama to an actual carwash – we aren’t kidding.
We get clues as to who the mystery celebrity is before and after they perform and the celebrity panel dish out their best guesses, or just guesses in the case of Jonathan Ross, with the aim of identifying the overall winner.
Who are The Masked Dancer judges?
Peter Crouch is the latest judge on The Masked Dancer. He will join returning judges Davina McCall, Jonathan Ross and Oti Mabuse.
Later in the series, there will be some celebrity guests. We’ll keep you updated as soon as we know more.
The Masked Dancer 2022 line-up
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The season two line-up has now been revealed.
Below is a a full list of all of this year’s characters:
- Onomatopoeia
- Tomato Sauce
- Sea Slug
- Scissors
- Cactus
- Astronaut
- Pillar and Post
- Candlestick
- Pearly King
- Pig
- Prawn Cocktail
- Odd Socks
Who were the contestants on the first series of The Masked Dancer?
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As mentioned, they were 12 celebrities in the debut series of this show, and here is all who they all are – and who they were dressed as.
- Beagle – Christopher Dean
- Squirrel – Bonnie Langford (2nd)
- Carwash – Louis Smith (1st)
- Llama – Zoe Ball
- Viper – Jordan Banjo
- Flamingo – Louise Redknapp
- Rubber Chicken – Eddie the Eagle
- Beetroot – Dita Von Teese
- Frog – Kelly Brook
- Knickerbocker Glory – Craig Revel Horwood
- Zip – Howard Donald (3rd)
- Scarecrow – Tamzin Outhwaite
The Masked Dancer will return to ITV later this year. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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