The Masked Singer finale ratings: overnight viewing figures for 2023 finale down compared to 2022 and 2021

Viewing figures for The Masked Singer 2023 finale were down compared to the 2022 finale, according to overnight ratings aggregators.

The finale, which saw Rhino unmasked as Busted’s Charlie Simpson, peaked at 5.7 million viewers and attained an average of 4.8 million viewers. Consolidated figures, accounting for audiences watching on catch-up via ITVX, will be released later in the month (though reality competition shows of this style don’t typically gain many additional views that way).

That figure represents a fall compared to the 2022 finale, which was itself also down on the 2021 finale. The Masked Singer 2022 finale was watched by an average of 6.3 million people, and the 2021 finale by an average of 8.6 million people.

The dip can be attributed to a few different factors – and it’s also worth remembering that the 2021 finale took place during a national lockdown, when overnight ratings were up across the board.

It was announced recently that ITV had cancelled The Masked Dancer, the Masked Singer’s dance-themed spinoff series. The Masked Dancer’s second series finale – which aired in October 2022 – received an average of just 2.85 million viewers (consolidated after a week), falling out of the Top Ten most viewed programmes of the week.

The Masked Singer finale saw Rhino, Fawn, and Phoenix finally unmasked. Kaiser Chiefs singer Ricky Wilson was underneath the Phoenix costume, while Fawn was All Saints star Natalie Appleton – and, of course, eventual winner Rhino was Charlie Simpson from Busted.

Of the judges Rita Ora, Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall, and Mo Gilligan, only Ora and McCall correctly identified Rhino as Charlie Simpson. Special guest judge Lee Mack, who joined the panel for the finale only, suggested that George Ezra could’ve been underneath the mask.

The Masked Singer has been recommissioned for a fourth series, which will air on ITV in 2024.