“The Masked Singer” host Nick Cannon tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus, meaning that he will not be seen at least in the first episodes of the fifth season of Fox’s reality show. Instead, the producers hired actress and host Niecy Nash to replace her.
Nash will take over as a guest presenter as production begins this Thursday in season 5 of “The Masked Singer,” and until Cannon is ready to get back to work. Cannon is currently quarantined and at rest, a star representative confirms exclusively for Variety. Fox expects Cannon to return to the series at the end of the season.
The 5th season of “The Masked Singer” is scheduled to open in March. Returning to the show as usual are speakers Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Nicole Scherzinger, Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke.
The celebrity music guessing game ended Season 4 in December as TV’s # 1 entertainment series, tied with NBC’s “This Is Us”. While on a hiatus, Fox was showing off the competitive spinoff show “The Masked Dancer”. As “The Masked Dancer” continues on Wednesday with its top five contestants, Vinny Guadagnino has already been revealed as Hammerhead; Brian McKnight as the cricket, Elizabeth Smart as the moth, Bill Nye the science guy as the ice cube and Ice-T as the disco ball.
At the end of December 17, “The Masked Singer”, LeAnn Rimes was unmasked as the winner of season 4 – The Sun. Also revealed: runner-up Aloe Blacc, who was dressed in a mushroom, and third place winner, Nick Carter , who presented himself as Crocodile.
Since returning to production last summer, “The Masked Singer” has kept to COVID’s strict protocols, and Jeong, who is a doctor, has kept an eye on how the program dealt with security.
Meanwhile, Nash is a very familiar face for Fox viewers. On the network, she recently appeared on Jeong’s “I Can See Your Voice” series and was a guest speaker on “The Masked Singer” last season. She appeared in “Scream Queens”, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”, “Do Not Disturb”, “The Mindy Project”, “The Bernie Mac Show”, and early in her career, “Party of Five”. She also did a voice for Fox’s “Family Guy”, among other animated series.
Nash’s recent credits include “Reno 911!” Revival, as well as “Mrs. America ”and Netflix’s“ Never Have I Ever ”. She also stars TNT’s “Claws”, which will return for her fourth and final season later this year. As a presenter, Nash received two Daytime Emmy nominations for Style Network’s “Clean House”, which also earned him the 2007 Gracie Allen Award for presenting an exceptional program.
Nash was nominated three times for the Primetime Emmy: twice for HBO’s “Getting On” and in 2019 for “When They See Us”, the critically acclaimed Netflix limited series based on the exonerated Central Park Five. Nash also won an NAACP image award for “When They See Us”.
In the film, Nash’s credits include “Selma”, “Guess Who” and “G-Force”. Behind the scenes, she runs the production company Chocolate Chick.