The Masked Singer: When the ITV show is back on as the 2026 characters are revealed
Which costume is your favourite?The Masked Singer‘s new batch of wild and wacky characters have been revealed – but when is the show back on?
Fans of the ITV singing contest were reminded on Boxing Day at just how much they love it, thanks to this year’s Christmas special.
The one-off festive episode saw Dermot O’Leary being crowed the winner as Mistletoe.
Now, 12 brand new characters have been revealed for the 2026 series, which is just days away from starting.
So when is The Masked Singer back on? And who are the mystery singers taking part this year? Here’s everything you need to know!
The Masked Singer: 2026 characters revealed
There are 12 contestants taking part in the new series of The Masked Singer but, obviously, their true identities remain a secret.
Anyone who has watched the show before knows the aim of the game is to work out which celebrities are hiding behind the extremely elaborate masks.
The 2026 characters and their costumes have now been revealed and some of them are truly wild! We have:
- Moth
- Can of Worms
- Red Panda
- Conkers
- Arctic Fox
- Toastie
- Monkey Business
- Yak
- Sloth
- Gargoyle
- Disc Jockey
- Teabag
First impressions are that Can of Worms is hilarious, Disc Jockey is giving 2025 Air Fryer vibes and Arctic Fox is very familiar. It appears the costume department has just refashioned Marti Pellow’s Wolf costume from earlier this year.
Red Panda is pretty cute – and could his or her firefighter costume be a clue? A former London’s Burning star, perhaps? Sloth, meanwhile, has come dressed as Mr Motivator!
The Masked Singer: Who is on the panel?
Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall, Maya Jama and Mo Gillighan are all returning to the Masked Singer panel for the new series. The foursome will be challenged with guessing who is behind each of the 12 costumes.
It’s fair to say we can expect some wild guesses… and plenty of “Mary Berry” suggestions from Jonathan. Joel Dommett will be back as host.
The panel have now shared which characters are their favourites.
Ahead of the new series starting, Maya said: “My favourite is Monkey Business. It’s a cool outfit. It’s chic.” Jonathan added: “I love the elegant, beautiful costumes like Moth. The kids are going to love it. It’s gothic and it’s beautiful.”
Davina has two favourites. The fitness fanatic said: “I love Conkers. Conkers is cute, fun, excitable. You want to cuddle Conkers. Also I love Sloth because of the workout gear.”
Mo, meanwhile, revealed: “I like Red Panda. Red Panda is great because it’s a Panda that’s in a fireman’s outfit, that’s cool.” Very observant, Mo…
When does The Masked Singer start?
Good news, folks. We are just days away from The Masked Singer being on again! The brand new series starts on Saturday January 3, 2026 – which is this weekend, for those of us bamboozled by the current date because of Twixmas.
The first episode starts at 6.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, and two celebrities will be unmasked before it ends at 8pm.
You won’t have to wait long for the second instalment, either. Episode 2 of The Masked Singer is on at 6.30pm on Sunday January 4. Again, the show will run for 90 minutes with an end time of 8pm… and another two singers will be revealed while it’s on.
This means that by the time the weekend is over, we will be down to 8 contestants. What an exciting way to kick off the New Year!
