Hidden Singer () is a South Korean variety-music TV program broadcast on JTBC. The mechanics are a famous singer and several of their impersonators sing one measure of a song behind the blinds for four rounds. In the first three rounds, an audience of 100 people vote on the person who they think is not the real singer, the person with the most votes would be eliminated. In the final round, the audience votes on who they think is the real singer, the person with the most votes would win the episode. The program is hosted by Jun Hyun-moo.
After around three years of hiatus, since the fourth season's end, the program began its fifth season by airing a "comeback special" episode on June 10, 2018; the regular episodes air starting from June 17, 2018.
A sixth season has been confirmed after two years, starting with a "comeback special" episode that aired on July 31, 2020.
After two years of hiatus, the seventh season will air starting from August 19, 2022. This marks the program celebrating its 10th anniversary.
Series overview
Format
In each episode, one singer is the star of the episode, and in each round, he/she sings with impersonators a certain mission song in the hidden stage while the audience attempts to find the impersonators and the original singer. If the real singer is eliminated, they stay in the rounds until the end (albeit with null votes). In the end, if an impersonator wins the episode, he/she would receive 20 million won. If the real singer won the episode, the second-place impersonator would get 100,000 won times the number of votes they got in the final round.
Round 1
The singer and 5 impersonators go in order (from #1-#6, though before, after, or in between individual parts, multiple or all singers can sing at once). At the end of the first half of the song, the 100-member audience votes on who they believe sounds least like the original singer, and the celebrity panel discusses their votes and thoughts on the real singer's position. When the results are revealed, the number of votes are shown for each person in order (there have been case where the votes are shown in reverse order), and the one with the highest amount of votes is eliminated. If it is an impersonator, they introduce themself. In round 1, only the doors for the real singer and elimination are opened. As in 3 episodes so far, if the original singer is not in the hidden stage because 6 impersonators were chosen instead of 5, there would be 6 impersonators in the next round (The real singer is said to be in "room number 7").
Round 2
The remaining 5 (or 6) sing half of the next song in the hidden stage (with their positions shuffled). After voting and discussion, the next half of the song is sung, but the doors are opened, and the impersonators faces are revealed. The elimination is then announced, and, if an impersonator is eliminated, he/she introduces themself.
Round 3
The singer and 3 (or 4) surviving impersonators sing the next song in the hidden stage, but the music does not stop. Instead, the audience votes during the interlude, and the impersonators' and singer's positions are revealed during the second half. During round 3, the surviving impersonators also introduce themselves. Each one has a nickname like (nickname)(singer's name). Nicknames are usually qualities (like "Handsome Man Nam Jin"), places of origin (like "Jinju Kim Kyung-ho"), song titles that are relevant to their backstory as a fan (like "On The Street Kim Kwang-seok"), occupations (like "Welder Im Chang-jung"), or even puns ("Who Shin Ji/누구 신지" is a pun on the phrase "Nugushinji" which translates to "Who is it") though there can be other types. The impersonators can be celebrities, foreigners, and both male and female regardless of the singer's gender. Around this time, a medley of the singer's songs (that are not mission songs) or a special performance are sung by members of the panel and the impersonators. At the end of round 3, the elimination is announced.