Fox Is Developing a ‘The Masked Dancer’ TV Show, Thanks to Ellen DeGeneres

What do you get when you combine Ellen DeGeneres and The Masked Singer? The spin-off we never knew we needed.

Fox is teaming up with the talk show host, 61, to develop a brand-new TV show, titled The Masked Dancer. If the idea sounds familiar, it’s probably because DeGeneres has been producing the segment on The Ellen DeGeneres Show for the past year or so.

Just like The Masked Singer, The Masked Dancer involves celebrities dressing from head-to-toe in elaborate costumes to conceal their identity. But instead of singing a song, the celebs perform a unique dance, while the judges (currently DeGeneres and her DJ, Twitch) try to guess the dancer.

So far, the host’s guessing game segment has featured Howie Mandel, Sean Hayes, Derek Hough, Colton Underwood and even The Masked Singer panelist Ken Jeong. DeGeneres used to joke that she hadn’t been “sued yet” for stealing the idea. Now that Fox is taking the reins, we have no doubt it will be even more spectacular. 

“We’re still blown away by The Masked Singer’s massive impact on pop culture, but when Ellen debuted her own inventive segment, The Masked Dancer, on her show, we were truly amazed,” Rob Wade, the president of alternative entertainment and specials for Fox Entertainment, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to partner with Ellen on this new format and take The Masked Singer to a whole new creative level.”

DeGeneres will serve as an executive producer alongside Fox Alternative Entertainment and Warner Bros. Unscripted & Alternative Television.

Thank you, Fox. We really needed this.