The Masked Singer is one of the most recent reality shows with a super unique concept to become incredibly popular. In each episode, famous people sing a bit of a song, and people are given clues and have to guess who it is. Because everyone is wearing a mask or a fun costume, it adds an extra element of drama and surprise.

Even celebrities like Gigi Hadid loves the show and fans have many questions, from whether contestants are paid to why there was a fake audience on season 4.

Let's find out what know about the show's audience.

The Fake Audience

There is so much to know about The Masked Singer, from judge Robin Thicke's high salary to how the audience was constructed.

The fake audience on The Masked Singer is due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rob Wade, the resident of Alternative Entertainment and Specials at Fox Entertainment, explained that the audience for season 4 was virtual and they voted.

Wade explained, “It feels that through virtual reality and composite and reaction shots, we managed to create the feeling that there were people in the room. It’s going to feel very much like [previous seasons], it’s not going to feel different. You’ll notice that the audience will feel like it’s behind the judges. The one thing I’m expecting is for people to say is ‘How come they’re not COVID friendly? The audience aren’t wearing masks.’ Through various quarantining and various camera tricks, we’ve managed to do it.”

According to Cinemablend.com, Wade said that there was "a small number of real people" who were in the audience.

Reality Blurb says that while fans learned after season 4 that the audience was fake and virtual, that wasn't made obvious before then. So it was entirely possible to watch the show and think that a real audience was there.

James Breen, the showrunner and also an executive producer on The Masked Singer, told Reality Blurb, “I think people are pretty sophisticated, and I think everyone knows what’s going on in the world right now. So, I don’t worry that people think it’s real.”

Newsweek reported that in an episode that aired in September 2020, there was a note that explained how it was filmed: "Due to health restrictions, visuals of audience featured in this episode included virtual shots as well as shots from past seasons. The use of these visuals was for creative purposes only and did not impact the actual audience voting and outcome."

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What Do Fans Think?

The general feeling seems to be that TheMasked Singer shouldn't have had a fake audience. An article on Cosmopolitan asked if it was a good idea to show an audience during the pandemic, a point that many agree with. The reaction was that seeing an audience of people who didn't have masks on when there is a serious situation going on was very strange.

When fans learned that there was a fake audience on The Masked Singer, what did they think about it?

One fan posted in a Reddit thread that their sister thought there was a real audience and they wrote, "I had to break the news to her."

A viewer said that they didn't love the idea of a fake audience and another responded, "It only bugs me when someone is singing and they cut away to the audience footage from prior seasons. If they really want fake audience, it would be so much better to have the animation team make cartoon audience members themed after the costumes that are performing that day."

Another fan shared in a similar thread, "We all know they didn't shoot the current season with an audience and all these fake audience reactions just take me out of the show and ruin the viewing experience."

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When interviewed by Variety, Craig Plestis, an executive producer on the series, explained, "From the day we started lockdown, it's been a process from how do we get back to filming in a safe way with high production values. It was incredibly challenging, creating music tracks and vocal coaching people remotely—incredibly difficult. And then creating the systems to ensure people are separated and safe when they're on set, not allowing different areas of the crew to populate areas."

RELATED: 10 Surprising Reveals On The Masked Singer In The First Two Seasons

Season 5 of the show is airing soon and according to Distractify.com, there won't be a live audience for these episodes. When fans will see people in the audience, it will be video from previous seasons, the publication notes.

Based on fan reactions, it definitely seems like everyone would have been fine if the show avoided showing an audience at all during this time.

NEXT: The Funniest Get-Ups On The Masked Singer (& Who Wore Them)