The Wild Card Twist on 'The Masked Singer' Fully Explained

As if there weren’t already enough twists and turns in The Masked Singer with some of our favorite celebrities being revealed all the time, in Season 5, the producers decided to add something new to shake things up. The Wild Card Twist in The Masked Singer is truly the game-changer we’ve all been waiting for.

This show already stands out amongst its competitors like American Idol and The Voice, but The Wild Card Twist makes things way more interesting. They began teasing us about The Wild Card Twist way before they explained what it was, and it’s actually much less complex than you might guess.

The first Wild Card costume of season 5 was introduced by guest host Niecy Nash, but not until every member from Group A had taken the stage. The contestants in Group A included Robopine, Seashell, Raccoon, and Russian Dolls. After the mystery Wild Card completed their performance, they were also immediately put at risk of getting voted out — just like the contestants they were going up against.

This meant Robopine, Seashell, Raccoon, and the Russian Dolls of season 5 all had a chance to progress to the next round if the Wild Card player didn’t do their best to impress. In Season 6, even though the Wild Card player is considered a late addition to the group, they can still be kicked out right away. This allows viewers to keep the players they know better in the game longer.

The producer of The Masked Singer is James Breen and his input about the different changes throughout the show are important to the overall success of the singing competition. With each new season, The Masked Singer has gotten more and more popular, and a huge reason why is that they’re open and willing to add new ideas.

James discussed the addition of the Wild Card Twist before its season 5 introduction saying, “They’re just joining the game later, but we still get to know them. I’d say one of them, in particular, gives you one of the emotional performances of the season and one of the most emotional stories” (per Gold Derby) In other words, although the new Wild Cards won’t get as much screen time as the original contestants, we'll still get to know them well enough.

The Wild Cards in Season 6 of The Masked Singer are already getting a lot of attention! For the first time ever, two Wild Cards performed in one night, which is something that hasn’t happened in the history of the show. One of the Wild Cards in Season 6, The Baby, was hilariously described as being “a little disturbing" by Nicole Scherzinger.

The other Wild Card performer, The Hamster, hit the stage with the ultimate prop: a giant hamster cage. It’s pretty early to say now if these Wild Card contestants will make it very far in the show since they’re going up against some awesome characters like Cupcake, Banana Split, Queen of Hearts, Dalmatian, and more. The next episode premieres on Fox at 8 p.m. EST.