TV Big changes coming to The Masked Singer season 5 with new wildcard rounds By Lauren Huff Lauren Huff Lauren Huff is a writer at Entertainment Weekly with over a decade of experience covering all facets of the entertainment industry. After graduating with honors from the University of Texas at Austin (Hook 'em, Horns!), Lauren wrote about film, television, awards season, music, and more for the likes of The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood, Us Weekly, Awards Circuit, and others before landing at EW in May 2019. EW's editorial guidelines Published on February 23, 2021 03:35PM EST The Masked Singer is getting wild. Fox announced on Tuesday that the forthcoming fifth season of the singing competition show will for the first time feature wildcard rounds. These rounds will feature new masked celebrities introduced during the run of show. These wildcards take the stage at the end of the show for a chance to unseat another contestant in the group and join the race for the golden mask trophy. These costumes have yet to be revealed. There will be 10 total non-wildcard contestants split into two groups of five (Group A and Group B). (By comparison, seasons 3 and 4 featured 18 and 16 contestants, respectively). Including the wildcard competitors, season 5 contestants boast a combined 26 Grammy nominations, nine multi-platinum singles, four Academy Award nominations, three Super Bowl appearances, six Gold Medals, and two World Records. Regular host Nick Cannon will be officially presiding over the season, but not on every episode. Part of the season will feature guest host Niecy Nash, who is stepping in for Cannon while he recovers from COVID-19. Original panelists Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke are all returning as well. Season 5 of The Masked Singer debuts Wednesday, March 10, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox. Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more. Related content: Everything to know about The Masked Singer season 5 See the very first costumes from The Masked Singer season 5 The Masked Singer host Nick Cannon tests positive for COVID-19, Niecy Nash to fill in