The Masked Singer SA Set for Season 4 in 2027 as Primedia Studios and Rose & Oaks Media Prep 'Even Bigger' Fourth Year of TV Musical Reality Competition: 'A Really Famous Soccer Player Said No for Season 1 and Came Back and Said I'm Ready Now for Season 4'

by Thinus Ferreira

After two seasons on SABC3 and a just-concluded third season on SABC2 and Netflix, the producers behind The Masked Singer South Africa confirm that the local format adaptation of the hit TV musical celebrity guessing game will be back for a fourth season on South African television in 2027.

"There's one really famous South African soccer player who said no to me for season one of The Masked Singer SA. This year he came back to me and said 'Okay, I'm ready now. Season 4 it's me and you," co-executive producer Anele Mgudlwa of Rose & Oaks Media told TVwithThinus.

Rose & Oaks Media, together with Primedia Studios, produce the shiny floor format show from Fremantle for the South African public broadcaster's SABC2 TV channel. 

Episodes of the just-concluded third season are also sold to Netflix.

While The Masked Singer SA doesn't contain any live elements, Rose & Oaks Media are researching the feasibility of making the show and episodes more interactive.

"We have been looking into different systems that would allow us to incorporate live voting for viewers at home. Hopefully, in the next fourth season, we will have a longer production timeline, which will allow us to bring in people who are couch detectives - maybe on-screen even, says Frankie du Toit, co-executive producer and creative director of the show.

"There are a lot of fun things. The question is how does The Masked Singer SA get bigger and better? Easy."

"So season 4: Bigger ideas. I don't think we can get bigger celebrities, but I think we can get more interesting ones and keep the game going. But in terms of the format and the show of The Masked Singer SA, we've only started."

Anele Mgudlwa says "the leap between seasons of The Masked Singer SA is big. If you think of the leap between season 1 and season 2, and then between season 2 and now. The leaps are big."

"Imagine the leap from now to season 4. Even this year, the set was bigger. The costumes were bigger. Frankie got the biggest camera in there. We are viewers ourselves before we are producers. So we are aware that the viewer experience has to grow over time."

"We introduced the duets. We're going to double down on that even more - people really enjoyed it."

ALSO READ: Choreographer Bontle Modiselle Wins Season 3 of The Masked Singer SA with Songs and a Dance as Spotty the Dog

ALSO READ: INTERVIEW. Choreographer Bontle Modiselle is The Masked Singer SA's Season 3 Spotty-winner: 'I Loved what Spotty Could Offer'

ALSO READ: INTERVIEW. Content Creator Mzwakhe Mbuli Jr. on 'Bzzzz'-ing as Masked Singer SA's Mosquito: 'Everything Robot Boii Does Has to be at The Top'

ALSO READ: The Masked Singer SA Co-exec Producers Anele Mgudlwa and Frankie du Toit on Season 3's Bigger Swings with Localised Masks and Language, Adding AI for Clues, and Celeb Contestants: 'This Season We Played the Perfect Game'

The Masked Singer SA Co-exec Producers Anele Mgudlwa and Frankie du Toit on Season 3's Bigger Swings with Localised Masks and Language, Adding AI for Clues, and Celeb Contestants: 'This Season We Played the Perfect Game'

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African producers of The Masked Singer SA took even bigger swings for the just-concluded third season on SABC2 with the types of masks and costumes, allowing more vernacular language, doing duets that there will be more of in season 4, and using artificial intelligence (AI) to put together the clue packages.

Everything gelled so well together that they say everything came together this season in producing and playing "the perfect game" for The Masked Singer SA's 13 episodes of season 3.

TVwithThinus sat down with co-executive producers Anele Mgudlwa and Frankie du Toit from the Rose & Oaks Media production company, producing the localised version of the shiny floor format competition show from Fremantle, with Primedia Studios, for the South African public broadcaster.

Frankie du Toit, co-executive producer and creative director of The Masked Singer SA at Rose & Oaks Media, says the celebrities who don the full-body costumes and sweat it out on stage in song and dance, fall in love with the out-of-body and stressful, yet entertaining experience.

"What all the celebrities who take part say is how much they enjoy the experience and this idea of singing behind a mask," says Frankie du Toit.

"For some of them, they're not singers. Everyone enjoys their journey on The Masked Singer SA - they feel so personally invested in what they bring to stage. Even in the season 3 finale - when the last four masks came off, viewers can see that the celebrities feel it so personally."

He says the entire production team, as well as the in-studio audience and viewers at home, fall in love with these masked performers over the course of a season - and especially with the "personalities" of the costumes themselves.

"We forget that there's someone inside there - it's part of the beauty of this show. It's not only who's behind the mask and the celebrity themselves but we fall in love with the masks."

According to Anele Mgudlwa, the masks mean something different to each of the South African A-listers selected who agree to take part.

"Many of them say they feel liberated - that they can go on stage without judgement. You're not a singer but everybody is actually rooting for you to do well."

She says "I like the kindness of The Masked Singer SA. It spreads positivity, fun and kindness. I really think South Africa needs that - a moment every week where we all get together and we have fun."

About the celebrity detectives - musician J'Something, choreographer and personality Somizi Mhlongo, DJ and socialite Sithelo Shozi and Skhumba Hlophe - Frankie du Toit says "they are once again incredible".

"They keep guessing - correctly and incorrectly."

Heavy full-body costumes

TVwithThinus asked about the incredible physical weight of the various costumes and to what degree those limit or "drag down" the celebrity contestants, their movements, and performances.

"As soon as they put on the masks, we warn them. We say, 'Look, we've made this thing now - because we choose the designs together and obviously they're part of the process," Frankie du Toit explains.

"When the fitting happens, we say 'We're going to now put the head on'. And it's heavy. And it's the first time they're experiencing it."

"When Mzwakhe Mbuli Jr., aka Robot Boii, put the Mosquito jacket on, he said 'This is perfect. This is perfect for what I want because this holds me down. This helps me to remember that I have to be in character and that I need to be Mosquito."

Anele Mgudlwa says the same happened with former Miss South Africa, Shudufhadzo Musida who made it to the second season finale as Blue Crane.

"She said the same thing because Blue Crane was quite heavy. She said I want to move slowly. It makes sense that it's heavy so that I won't run around and prance around. So I stay in character."

Intense visual clues packages

TVwithThinus asked the producers whether the clues given, were made more difficult this season.

"There's never been any conversation about making it more difficult," says Frankie du Toit.

"Can I tell you what is more difficult? It's because the clues packages are so intense, visually, and there are so many clues inside the packages, your mind gets distracted."

"The game we played this season is the perfect game. The way the detectives played ... perfect game! We all enjoyed it perfectly. We didn't set out a single moment to be more difficult or more clever."

And the greater use of AI for the clues parts this season? 

"Obviously, globally, it's a trend to use more AI than animation on TV in general," says Frankie du Toit.

"With the format right holders there was a discussion about AI use. We're not the first territory to do what we've done with AI in the clues. We're definitely the best they've ever seen done - which is what I think South Africa does. Our DNA is RSA.  They were very happy and impressed with it."

"But there are guidelines to these kinds of things and we've put it together with them."

Format holder is fine with SA pushing creative boundaries

I also asked them whether Fremantle, as the international distributor format rights holder of The Masked Singer, have become more comfortable with the costume suggestions that South Africa comes up with.

"In terms of the format, they actually spur us on," says Anele Mgudlwa. "They say that out of all of their territories, South Africa definitely is the most creative. They've never said no to a mask. In fact, we say no to a mask to ourselves."

"We were quite intentional this season to make everything even more South African. You can see it with the Pap & Wors character and Ponte Tower. We found that that is one of the things that will differentiate us as The Masked Singer SA even more."

"In terms of the format, we're allowed to do anything, we're allowed to sing anything. We're allowed to go bigger, we're allowed to go better. We introduced the duets. We're going to double down on that even more - people really enjoyed it."

Anele Mgudlwa says "South Africa is very creative as a territory and they hear us out whenever we ask 'Can we do this? Can we do that? What do you think about this?"

"We even find that some of our ideas they are incorporating into their other territories."

"The SABC was also saying 'more vernacular language. And if you notice this third season, we said 'use the language as it comes into your head'. Don't try and think English. No. We'll subtitle it later. Speak like you do and it will resonate with a lot more people in the country."

Frankie du Toit says "We enjoy watching The Masked Singer SA as much as we enjoy making it. As much as our masks and celebrities enjoy being on the show, we enjoy making the show."

Anele adds: "It's personal for us."

ALSO READ: Choreographer Bontle Modiselle Wins Season 3 of The Masked Singer SA with Songs and a Dance as Spotty the Dog

ALSO READ: INTERVIEW. Choreographer Bontle Modiselle is The Masked Singer SA's Season 3 Spotty-winner: 'I Loved what Spotty Could Offer'

ALSO READ: INTERVIEW. Content Creator Mzwakhe Mbuli Jr. on 'Bzzzz'-ing as Masked Singer SA's Mosquito: 'Everything Robot Boii Does Has to be at The Top'

ALSO READ: The Masked Singer SA Set for Season 4 in 2027 as Primedia Studios and Rose & Oaks Media Prep 'Even Bigger' Fourth Year of TV Musical Reality Competition: 'A Really Famous Soccer Player Said No for Season 1 and Came Back and Said I'm Ready Now for Season 4'

INTERVIEW. Choreographer Bontle Modiselle is Masked Singer SA's Season 3 Spotty-winner: 'I Loved what Spotty Could Offer'

by Thinus Ferreira

It was South African choreographer Bontle Modiselle, who was singing and dancing under the Spotty dog costume, who is the winner of the third season of The Masked Singer SA, and she tells me she loved what the costume and mask of Spotty offered.

Spotty, aka Bontle, was finally unmasked as the winner for season 3 of The Masked Singer SA on Saturday night on SABC2, with Primedia Studios and the Rose & Oaks Media production company already working on season 4.

I sat down with the choreographer and dancer to find out more about Bontle's dogged determination to try and win The Masked Singer South Africa, her costume, the clues, and how much personal flair she could bring to her performance and singing.

What message do you have for that young person who saw you take the Spotty head off and is so inspired by you, want to be like you, and wants to pursue a career in singing, dancing, entertainment or the arts?

I committed to this as a career - not a hobby or a side hustle. I genuinely believed in it. And I'm glad I did, because I had a point of reference in the Somizis of the world, in the Lorcia Coopers of the world, because they were my first reference of people who did it.

Because I had them as a reference, I know that I'm a reference to a child that I may never meet, but hope to meet someday.

In whatever way I influence them, I hope that my story reaffirms their dreams, however it looks. 

And however strange or unpopular it may seem, if your heart says this is the thing to follow, you should really commit to it. You should nurture it. You should respect it because there are people who will help you along the way.

I didn't do this alone. I respect this industry. I made a commitment to leave it better than how I found it, because I know there are kids who come after me. It can be a little hard and unkind but it's a beautiful story to tell and to live. 

The Spotty costume is quite wide. How long did it take you to adjust to what your bigger world and bigger character is, wearing the suit and being able to manoeuvre and do movements inside it? 

Very quickly. The first time I put on the suit, I had worked through a lot of my movements.

I wanted to feel what my limitations were because of the size of the suit just so I could get my head around how much freedom I would have in this space.

I use my body all the time, right? So needing to adapt and to adjust to this new world wasn't too hard.

What was hard about it was realising how little air I actually had in there and how little I saw. I'm seeing through the mouth of Spotty, not even through the eyes and it's a tiny opening through the mouth where I'm actually able to see.

So I'm not even seeing quite clearly. And there was a fan in there, which is great. So there was some ventilation in there.

I'd say the hardest thing outside of not being able to see through it, was the weight of that jacket. It was insanely heavy. 

So yes, the suit wasn't too bad. But the jacket itself was probably about, I mean, that's a heavy leather studded jacket of, I don't know, 20 kgs, I would imagine. But yeah, it was a beautiful thing to adapt and to adjust to.

Maybe sort of like a sexist question, but the male contestants are taller and it feels as if they're also more manoeuvrable, just because of what the male gender is. Do you feel the women taking part have a higher bar and have to put in even more effort in performances?

I mean, I've never really considered that. 

I've never thought about that. I will say, bringing it back to my Spotty mask, I really enjoy it.

I don't think Spotty is gendered, the first time you see Spotty. So I liked how gender neutral Spotty was. There were a lot of things that drew me to Spotty, where my body wasn't in question.

It wasn't about how great, or how sexy, or how... There was none of that. 

It was just really down to how would that mask perform. So I don't think I ever considered the type of work, the level of work.

I loved what Spotty could offer, and I felt that we could offer a lot to Spotty to make Spotty come alive.

In terms of the songs, I don't think you guys have input in terms of what the song is. But how much are you able to customise, or bring your own vibe, or your artistic flair in terms of your vocal performance when you record it? Like, what's the limit? 

There were no limits. 

We have so much room. So, I think what informed a lot of the song choices were the conversations.

The first conversations we had, where we sat down, we spoke with the creative team and they kind of wanted to know what our history was. What did we grow up listening to? Who are our favourite artists? Just so that there was a little more context.

So if they selected a song for you, it existed in your world. You're not getting a song that is completely out of your reach or something you're totally unfamiliar with. 

I think viewers don't realise it, but when you look back, the clues are, for a lot of the contestants, actually quite personal and sort of family matters and things like that. Are you guys volunteering what you are willing to give in terms of clues, because it's quite revealing on a personal level?

It is revealing on a personal level!

So we had a conversation with the creative team again. So when we get into the conversation about music and what you grew up listening to, we also get into conversations about maybe how you grew up, what your family dynamics were.

And of course, you divulge to the level at which you are comfortable. And so when they have that information, they don't exploit it, quite honestly. It doesn't feel like an exploitative moment.

In fact, I think they try to marry maybe information that the public maybe might know and maybe offering something new as well. But again, it doesn't feel exploitative. It feels very creative.

I think they marry both worlds of giving the public information that they knew but also introducing information that they might not have known and making both of them blend together.

For celebrities who might be chosen or might be considered for season four, what does it really take in terms of the time commitment of having some of your senses cut off?

You've got to commit a lot of time and you've got to know that you are going to commit a lot of time to a production like this. 

From the time that you are picked up, you're really spending hours in studio. So yes, the moment that you step on stage, it is a 2-minute performance that you're putting on.

But what it takes to act out that 2-minute performance is a lot. 

You might take a couple of hours in studio recording until you're done recording to your satisfaction and you feel good by the time you leave the studio. 

Then when you get to record on the stage and getting those performances, I mean, you've got one shot and one opportunity, but the work that it takes to get there, is a lot.

And you've got to be okay with that. I guess some personalities could maybe get impatient with time and feel like they need to be somewhere. But when you commit to a process like this, you must know that you must offer your time and be okay with it.

I also guess you're going to explore, I guess, different versions of yourself. 

You might be the type of artist where, I don't know, you're so used to being seen as a validation of how you're able to perform and what it is that you can do physically to impress. Now there's none of that. 

The Masked Singer SA cuts all of that off. Your sight is limited. Your hearing is limited. Your worldview is completely warped. You are isolated. There are so many things.

But you can always flip those things and keep working it in your favour.

You actually realise how much you value the things and where you come from. You come to really appreciate them when you come back to your own world.

There's so much, but it's a beautiful process. And the best way to get through it is to give it your all.

ALSO READ: Choreographer Bontle Modiselle Wins Season 3 of The Masked Singer SA with Songs and a Dance as Spotty the Dog

ALSO READ: INTERVIEW. Content Creator Mzwakhe Mbuli Jr. on 'Bzzzz'-ing as Masked Singer SA's Mosquito: 'Everything Robot Boii Does Has to be at The Top'

ALSO READ: The Masked Singer SA Co-exec Producers Anele Mgudlwa and Frankie du Toit on Season 3's Bigger Swings with Localised Masks and Language, Adding AI for Clues, and Celeb Contestants: 'This Season We Played the Perfect Game'

ALSO READ: The Masked Singer SA Set for Season 4 in 2027 as Primedia Studios and Rose & Oaks Media Prep 'Even Bigger' Fourth Year of TV Musical Reality Competition: 'A Really Famous Soccer Player Said No for Season 1 and Came Back and Said I'm Ready Now for Season 4'

INTERVIEW. Content Creator Mzwakhe Mbuli Jr. on 'Bzzzz'-ing as Masked Singer SA's Mosquito: 'Everything Robot Boii Does Has to be at The Top'

by Thinus Ferreira

Mosquito was unmasked on Saturday night in the finale of The Masked Singer SA's on SABC2 as Mzwakhe Mbuli Jr., who became season 3's runner-up, but as the most-dedicated contestant by far and on why he went the extra mile, he says "Everything Robot Boii does has to be at the top and has to have a Robot Boii stamp".

For 13 weeks, with a lot of "bzzzz"-ing about on stage and showcasing his talent to great acclaim and popularity among the in-show voting audience and viewers at home, Mzwakhe Mbuli Jr. came this close to clinching the title as The Masked Singer SA's third season winner.

That prize, however, went to Bontle Modiselle, who was hiding under the Spotty mask as the winner of this season, produced for SABC2 by Primedia Studios and the Rose & Oaks Media production company.

Anele Mgudlwa, co-executive producer of The Masked Singer SA at the Rose & Oaks Media production company, describes Mzwakhe Mbuli Jr.'s inside Mosquito as this season's "method actor".

"He found a way to "Bzzz" everything. So competitive and dedicated."

Frankie du Toit, co-executive producer, says "Mosquito was dedicated to being Mosquito. We talk about weeks of recording. We talk about so many different things happening on stage. Embodying the character."

Anele Mgudlwa says Robot Boii was the participant who "communicated with us the most this season".

"He constantly kept asking: Can I do this? Can I do that? Always wanting to add more. In our field we call it added value. Eventually I said: Here's my number. Every day he went: Can I do this? Can I add that?"

I sat down with the musician and content creator to find out more about Robot Boii embodying the magnificent Mosquito in the third season of The Masked Singer South Africa.

As Mosquito, you wore this really heavy turquoise coat but it's floor-length. It has a "slip" of sorts. So in your performance, you basically had to be like a bride who has to be careful not to step on her own wedding dress. How did you keep in mind that while you perform what you must do not to step on your costume?

As a professional dancer, you always have to be aware of your surroundings, even with the outfit that you're wearing, you know. 

So I always had to be conscious of how I swing it. I couldn't take back steps without it being lifted up for me.

I think that's just also the experience and just understanding what I'm wearing and how I need to present myself in performance.

And it's also quite heavy. It looks beautiful, but it's much heavier than it looks. How did it feel to you, or how long did it take you to become comfortable in terms of what your overall new weight is as the character? 

I think I'm a fitness guy, you know, so as much as I'm skinny, I've got a lot of activities that I do that keep me conscious of what my body can take and cannot take.

So when I had the weight on, I adjusted very well to it because also I've got wide mosquito wings and I've got a mask that I'm only seeing from left and right, not in the front. 

It took me two days after putting it on to get used to it, and then from there, it was go time. 

Producer Anele Mgudlwa said you were the "method actor" and most involved and most communicative of everyone this season in terms of improving and enhancing and adding to your performance. Of course you could just go and perform, but why did you think to really enhance it with your own flair?

Everything Robot Boii does has to be at the top and has to have a Robot Boii stamp.

My brand is aspiration and inspiration. It's the level of creativity and bringing your A-game to everything. So it's about creative freedom, asking questions, and knowing the limits.

In fact, I think I'm the only mask that was changing lyrics to add "Bzzz" into it, and that's what it is for me. It's like, how do I embody this character into my world instead of just leaving Robot Boii outside the door and just be Mosquito? 

I'd rather have a fusion. If a Mosquito bit Robot Boii. I was the modern-day Peter Parker Mosquito.

What message do you have for the high school kid who has a dream of entering South Africa's entertainment sphere, whether it's dancing, singing, acting or whatever, and see you and want to be like you, but get messages back from parents or whoever that it's not a real career and you can't do it?

I think the most important thing is having a foundation because the entertainment industry isn't guaranteed.

So there is a possibility to have a career, but the chances aren't a guarantee because of how many of us there are in the space. 

So having a foundation, an educational foundation, is important. 

Then, your ability to chase your dream needs to be that you are consistent. Be true to yourself and you need to understand what you're getting into.

Do the research, find out how to get better at what you do, and adapt to your craft. Work on your craft to a point where you're the best in the room where that is concerned.

So it's a lot of time, it's a lot of effort. It is possible. It's hard, but it is possible.

ALSO READ: Choreographer Bontle Modiselle Wins Season 3 of The Masked Singer SA with Songs and a Dance as Spotty the Dog

ALSO READ: INTERVIEW. Choreographer Bontle Modiselle is The Masked Singer SA's Season 3 Spotty-winner: 'I Loved what Spotty Could Offer'

ALSO READ: The Masked Singer SA Co-exec Producers Anele Mgudlwa and Frankie du Toit on Season 3's Bigger Swings with Localised Masks and Language, Adding AI for Clues, and Celeb Contestants: 'This Season We Played the Perfect Game'

ALSO READ: The Masked Singer SA Set for Season 4 in 2027 as Primedia Studios and Rose & Oaks Media Prep 'Even Bigger' Fourth Year of TV Musical Reality Competition: 'A Really Famous Soccer Player Said No for Season 1 and Came Back and Said I'm Ready Now for Season 4'

Choreographer Bontle Modiselle Wins Season 3 of The Masked Singer SA with Songs and a Dance as Spotty the Dog

by Thinus Ferreira

Dancer and choreographer Bontle Modiselle won the third season of The Masked Singer South Africa on Saturday night on SABC2, when she removed the mask of Spotty the dog.

In the third season finale of the Primedia Studios and Rose & Oaks Media-produced show, Chopsticks got eliminated first and was revealed as Khanyi Mbau.

After that, Gogga lost and was revealed as Afro-jazz legend Judith Sephuma.

In the final face-off, it was Mosquito up against Spotty.

Mzwakhe Mbuli Jr., known as award-winning content creator and dancer Robot Boii, then had to take off his mask as Mosquito as this season's runner-up. 

Bontle Modiselle then took off the Spotty mask.

"I had fun and the time of my life, and, you know the 8-year-old me who was insecure and didn't think she was able or capable, was validated for 13 weeks," Bontle Modiselle said.

ALSO READ: INTERVIEW. Content Creator Mzwakhe Mbuli Jr. on 'Bzzzz'-ing as Masked Singer SA's Mosquito: 'Everything Robot Boii Does Has to be at The Top'

ALSO READ: INTERVIEW. Choreographer Bontle Modiselle is The Masked Singer SA's Season 3 Spotty-winner: 'I Loved what Spotty Could Offer'

ALSO READ: INTERVIEW. Content Creator Mzwakhe Mbuli Jr. on 'Bzzzz'-ing as Masked Singer SA's Mosquito: 'Everything Robot Boii Does Has to be at The Top' 

ALSO READ: The Masked Singer SA Co-exec Producers Anele Mgudlwa and Frankie du Toit on Season 3's Bigger Swings with Localised Masks and Language, Adding AI for Clues, and Celeb Contestants: 'This Season We Played the Perfect Game'

ALSO READ: The Masked Singer SA Set for Season 4 in 2027 as Primedia Studios and Rose & Oaks Media Prep 'Even Bigger' Fourth Year of TV Musical Reality Competition: 'A Really Famous Soccer Player Said No for Season 1 and Came Back and Said I'm Ready Now for Season 4'