The Masked Singer 2025 full character line-up and judges
Who's that behind the mask? The ITV series has unveiled its new mystery cast.
TV's wackiest singing contest The Masked Singer is back with a spectacular new line-up of costumed characters waiting to be introduced by host Joel Dommett.
Get ready to pore over each singer's clues to work out who's behind the mask this series as the likes of Teeth, Toad in the Hole and Spaghetti Bolognese take to the stage.
The ITV show also welcomes a new judge to the panel this year as Maya Jama joins Davina McCall, Mo Gilligan and Jonathan Ross in the guessing game.
Meanwhile, a new spin-off show, The After Mask, shares all the gossip from after the episodes end. Here's all you need to know about The Masked Singer 2025.
The Masked Singer 2025's characters
A new series of The Masked Singer means a new line-up of incredible costumes as the mystery singers take to the stage disguised in an outlandish array of characters.
Each year, the ITV show manages to come up with a completely different set of costumes that are every bit as impressive as the singing performances - sometimes more so - and now, the 12 characters for 2025 have been unveiled.
As usual, amongst the costumes are plenty of animals, birds and other creatures, including Wolf, Kingfisher, Pufferfish, Bear and Snail.
Some are a little more abstract, including Dressed Crab and Toad in the Hole, alongside Teeth, Tattoo and Spaghetti Bolognese. There's also a mythical character in Pegasus, while leafy character Bush rounds out the cast.
Maya Jama shared that Teeth was her favourite: "The costume is a massive mouth and all you see of the person inside is these little legs. It's really impressive you can’t see a face, nothing! There is a gadget in the middle that makes the mouth move so the character can sing along with the mouth moving. Outstanding work from the costume team!"
However, Jonathan Ross loved Pegasus: "It’s such a beautiful mask with lovely wings. The horse head is hyper realistic. It's a really beautiful white horse's head. It's like something out of a fairytale."
Davina McCall said: "I always love the really funny costumes. So the fact that we’ve called somebody Bush this year is too funny. Being called Bush every five minutes by Joel makes me laugh so much."
Mo Gilligan added: "I think the best costume in this series is Dressed Crab, very flamboyant, very cool. It's not just a crab it's a Dressed Crab, it's all in the detail for me."
The Masked Singer 2025 judges
The show welcomes back regular stars Davina McCall, Jonathan Ross and Mo Gilligan this year, with new panel member Maya Jama taking up Rita Ora's old seat at the desk.
McCall, who filmed the series before her recent brain surgery, said: "It's been really nice having Maya on the panel, she’s really good fun. She’s really enjoying herself and she’s lovely to hang out with. She looks great and she’s thrown herself in at the deep end and is smashing it! I miss Rita, obviously we’d all worked together for so long and Maya had big shoes to fill and she’s filled them brilliantly."
Jama said of joining the show: "It did feel like the first day at school vibes and it feels like I'm in the biggest performing arts production ever. My mind’s blown at the costumes, the sets and the dancers who have to learn brand new routines for every performance. All of it is amazing. I went to a performing arts school and this is exactly what you dream of working on when you’re studying."
Asked who was the best judge at guessing singers Gilligan backed himself: "I think it's me this year. You’re not meant to blow your own trumpet but I think I’m really good this year! I think sometimes the audience might doubt how I piece the clues together, but when I’m right, I’m right! So I’m the one to put your money on this year."
The series always includes guest judges, with the likes of Vicky McClure and Suranne Jones joining the panel this time. Ross said: "One of our guest panellists guessed someone straight away, and when that person was unmasked a few weeks later you realised that they got it first! It really is a benefit because you want people to come in from the outside for the first time and not to be confused by some of the guesses we’ve made."
The After Mask
For the first time, this year's series will come with a spin-off show - The After Mask, airing on ITVX.
It will be hosted by Kiss FM's Harriet Rose, who'll ofer behind-the-scenes gossip from the main show which this year will include theme weeks.
Rose said: "We are taking a look at how things work because it's a lock tight set, it's so secretive but I'm going to take it to the absolute limit of where I can go with secrets being revealed.
"If there is anything going on backstage that’s allowed to be said I'll be putting it on my show. The Masked Singer is so secretive, I’m not privy to anything but I will be trying to sneak into the backstage corridors. I will be trying to get into the places I’m not allowed and trying to do the things I shouldn’t be doing to get as much info for my viewers as possible."
The Masked Singer returns to ITV at 7pm on 4 January.
