Format

Il Cantante Mascherato, the Italian version of global singing format phenomenon The Masked Singer, returns with season two starting from Friday, January 29, on Rai 1 prime time slot.

At the helm of the most talked-about program of the last year we will find always Milly Carlucci flanked by, in this new season, five celebrity judges: Patty Pravo, Flavio Insinna, Francesco Facchinetti with new entries Costantino Della Gherardesca and Caterina Balivo. They, along with the audience through Instagram/Facebook/Twitter official accounts of the program, will have to try to guess who’s hiding behind the masks and judge the performances of the mysterious celebrities. The cast will be also enriched by a 30-detectives investigative pool who will make assumptions and hypotheses, trying to grasp every useful clue, having the privilege to see the mask a few meters away. In this season there will be nine spectacular masks in competition: The Wolf, The Blue Tiger, The Giraffe, The Sheep, The Parrot, The Butterfly, The Cat, The Baby Alien and The Teddy Bear.

Based on Korean format Bongmyeon ga-wang (The King of the Mask Singer), The Masked Singer is one of the most acclaimed and adapted formats worldwide. Part singing competition, part guessing game, The Masked Singer features a group of mysterious celebrities, fully masked in elaborate head-to-toe costumes, performing in front of a celebrity panel who try to guess which big-name-star is performing in front of them. At the end of each episode, the audience and panelists vote for their favorite singer, and who gets the lowest vote is eliminated from the competition and must remove the mask, thus revealing to everyone who really hides under the costume. This process of elimination continues until three contestants remain in the season finale, and one is declared the winner after they perform again. The "Golden Mask" trophy is awarded as a prize.

Produced by Endemol Shine Italy, Il Cantante Mascherato will air every Friday, for five weeks, starting from January 29 on Rai 1 at 9.20 p.m.