Rita Ora will replace Nicole Scherzinger on the judging panel for season 11 of Fox’s The Masked Singer. The British pop star will take over for Scherzinger, who is starring in the West End revival of Sunset Boulevard.
Ora has been a panelist on the UK version of The Masked Singer for four seasons. She will join Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Robin Thicke, and Ken Jeong on the panel. Season 11 is set to air in 2024.
The change comes as Scherzinger prepares to star in the West End revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard.” Performances begin this month, and the show is set to run for 16 weeks.
Unfortunately for Scherzinger, the show spans the filming of Season 11 of “The Masked Singer,” which began this month.
Ora is no stranger to “The Masked Singer,” being an alum of “The Masked Singer UK.” She’s also helped out on “The Voice Australia,” as well as “The X-Factor UK,” and will join all the OG panelists for the 2024 season, guesting alongside Robin Thicke, Ken Jeong and Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg.
“The Masked Singer” technically kicked off Season 10 on Sept. 10, following Fox’s NFL kickoff, and unmasked Demi Lovato. But Lovato wasn’t actually a competitor on the season; she simply appeared for one night only, performing Heart’s “What About Love?” as Anonymouse.
The actual competition of Season 10 begins on Sept. 27 at 8/7c on Fox. You can watch the trailer for this season — as well as teaser for Ora’s debut — in the video above.
