Hidden Singer (South Korean TV series)

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 tenth anniversary.

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 five 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 number 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 three episodes so far, if the original singer is not in the hidden stage because six impersonators were chosen instead of five, there would be six impersonators in the next round (The real singer is said to be in "room number 7").

Round 2
The remaining five (or six) 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 three (or four) 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.

Round 4
The round 4 performance works the same as round 3. The singer and two (or three) surviving impersonators sing the final song in the hidden stage, but the music does not stop. Instead, the audience votes during the interlude on who they think the real singer is. After the votes are cast, the impersonators' and singer's positions are revealed during the second half. After the song the third place is announced, and then the winner (As a running gag, in most episodes, right before the winner is announced, the host says "Cue commercial!" generally causing an uproar). The last surviving impersonator wins money depending on what place they ranked and how many votes they got. This impersonator also gets to go to the end-of-season King of Kings championship. Sometimes, if there is a tie for two impersonators as runner-ups, both impersonators will receive prize money and participate in the championship. If the singer was eliminated prior to announcing the winner, the singer will announce the winner of the episode in place of the host. In Season 6, the champion impersonator would receive a Korean beef set, while in Season 7, this was a pork set. Sometimes at the end, an encore is sung by the impersonators and the singer.

Covid-19 voting changes
In the latter half of Season 6, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the voting system changed temporarily. Only the panel of celebrities would be present, and live viewers could vote online when possible during the livestream. This led to some controversy as people speculated it could be rigged/manipulated.

King of Kings Championship
The King of Kings Championship is the season finale (usually) where all the winning impersonators compete against each other. For the first four seasons, the champions would be divided into Groups A, B, and C. Each singer would sing half of a song behind the door, and the 300-member audience would vote zero if they thought the singer was good. They would open the door, and the champion would sing the next half of the song. After all singers in a group had sung, the scores would be revealed (generally one or two digits at a time), and whoever had the most votes would move to the finals. If two champions tied for the most votes, they both would advance. In the finals, each singer sings like in the qualifiers, except that from Season 2 onwards, the finals were broadcast live, with hundreds of thousands of voters. The winner would get money and a special prize (like an expensive car) In Seasons 3 and 4, between the qualifiers and the finals, viewers could vote for a "wildcard" who would go to the finals as a fourth member. In Season 5, the format changed, where each singer would perform one by one, and the score out of 300 would be revealed before the next performer. The top three out of the twelve would with money and prizes. In Season 6, the format changed again, where instead of voting zero, each voter out of 200 would rate the singer from 1 to 10 (2000 possible points) after each performance, the panel's votes (out of 300 points) were revealed after each stage, and the total votes for each person were revealed at the end. In Season 7, the format is the same as the previous season except the panel's votes were out of 250 points instead. In Seasons 1 and 7, midway through the performances, a "re-challenge" would happen, where a singer and his five impersonators would go through a normal round-style performance, and the audience's votes were revealed at the end. At or near the end, there is usually a special performance featuring all of the impersonators or a special guest singer.

Doppel-Singer Music Festival
This event has happened twice in Hidden Singer history. Eight teams, each consisting of one singer and one impersonator who was a participant in the King of Kings Championship. Each team has two performances, the one where half is in a special two-room hidden stage, and the other half after the doors open and their positions are revealed. The audience and the other seven teams are challenged to find, the real singer. The second performance is the team alternating parts of a different song on the stage. After all eight teams have performed, the audience votes for their favorite team, and the winner is declared "Best Couple".

Other special episodes
Before some seasons, a special episode would air with the host and panel, featuring a collection of the best past performances, or the lineup prediction for the following season. The first and seventh seasons are the only ones to not have such an episode. In the fifth and sixth seasons, these were "Comeback Specials" and they featured highlights of the previous seasons as well as hearing quizzes, where six audio clips of songs would play, and the panel would guess which one was a real singer singing. The other five were impersonators. Hearing quizzes also happened during the Season 4 Doppel-Singer Music Festival and the Season 6 King of Kings Championship. At the end of Season 3, a special "All Three Seasons King of Kings Championship" was broadcast live. It worked similar to a Championship Final, expect there were ten contestants (the finalists from the past three seasons, except Kwak Dong-hyun). A special performance featuring the majority of champions from the three seasons appeared at the end. In the middle of Season 6, a Special Live Broadcast Quiz aired, which included a hearing quiz and a lineup prediction for the second half of Season 6.

Regular episodes

 * Episode 15 (Highlights)
 * Best 7 Performances
 * 1. (Lena Park's part) – "I'll Write You A Letter" (편지할게요)
 * 2. (Kim Jong-seo's part) – "Beautiful Restriction" (아름다운 구속)
 * 3. (Lee Soo-young's part) – "Grace"
 * 4. (Park Sang-min's part) – "A Farewell to Arms" (무기여 잘 있거라)
 * 5. (Kim Jong-kook's part) – "Walking in One Spot" (제자리걸음)
 * 6. (Lee Moon-se's part) – "Flying in the Deep Night" (깊은 밤을 날아서)
 * 7. (Yoon Min-soo's part) – "Comeback Again" (다시 와주라)
 * Special Voice Imitation Skills
 * ""Pretty Man Kim Jong-seo" Park Sang-woo (Kim Jong-seo's part)
 * "18-year-old Jang Yun-jeong" Lila (Jang Yun-jeong's part)
 * "Invitation Singer Kim Gun-mo" Choi Dong-hwan (Kim Gun-mo's part)
 * "Lee Moon-se's Voice Doppelganger" Ahn Woong-gi (Lee Moon-se's part)
 * "Celebrity Voice Imitation Terminator" Ahn Yoon-sang (Park Sang-min's part)
 * "Musician's Voice Imitation King" K.Will (Kim Jong-kook's part)
 * Best 5 Participants
 * 1. "Little Lena Park" Oh Ha-neul (Lena Park's part)
 * 2. "Jinju Kim Kyung-ho" Kwak Dong-hyun (Kim Kyung-ho's part)
 * 3. "Male Lee Soo-young" Kim Jae-seon (Lee Soo-young's part)
 * 4. "Broadcasting Screenwriter Jang Yun-jeong" Kim Seon-myung (Jang Yun-jeong's part)
 * 5. "Meat Restaurant Lee Moon-se" Kim Jeong-hoon (Lee Moon-se's part)

Special episodes

 * Hidden Singer 2 D-14 (aired on September 28, 2013)
 * Season 1's Best 5 "Want to See Again"
 * 1. Lena Park's round 1
 * 2. Lee Soo-young's round 2
 * 3. Kim Jong-kook's round 2
 * 4. Lee Moon-se's round 2
 * 5. Yoon Min-soo's round 4
 * Best 5 Participants
 * 1. "Little Lena Park" Oh Ha-neul
 * 2. "Jinju Kim Kyung-ho" Kwak Dong-hyun
 * 3. "Male Lee Soo-young" Kim Jae-seon
 * 4. "Broadcasting Screenwriter Jang Yun-jeong" Kim Seon-myung
 * 5. "Meat Restaurant Lee Moon-se" Kim Jeong-hoon
 * Season 1: King of Kings' Challenge's Best Performances
 * 1. Kwak Dong-hyun – "Heartless" (비정)
 * 2. Ahn Woong-gi – "Old Love" (옛 사랑)
 * 3. Kim Sung-wook – "Piled Up with Longing" (그리움만 쌓이네)
 * 4. Choral of 14 participants – "A Goose's Dream" (거위의 꿈)


 * Hidden Singer 2 D-7 (aired on October 5, 2013)
 * Cast
 * MC: Jun Hyun-moo, Park Ji-yoon
 * Panel: Joo Young-hoon, Kang Yong-suk, Kim Kyung-ho, Park Hae-mi,, Solbi,
 * Participant: Oh Ha-neul, Kwak Dong-hyun, Kang Nam-soon, Woo Yeon-soo, Lee Hyun-hak, Paul Song, Oh Ye-joong, Kim Young-hyun, Park Hae-young, Kim Byung-soo, Ahn Woong-gi, Kim Sung-wook, Choi Dong-hwan
 * Ssulzun in Hidden Singer
 * Season 2's line-up prediction: Kim Bum-soo, Nam Jin, Park Hyo-shin, Byun Jin-sub, BoA, Shin Seung-hun, IU, Yang Hee-eun, Yoon Do-hyun, Lee So-ra, Lee Seung-chul, Lee Seung-hwan, Lee Sun-hee, Lee Juck, Yim Jae-beom, Im Chang-jung, Jo Sung-mo, Cho Yong-pil, Joo Hyun-mi, Wheesung

King of Kings' Challenge

 * Semifinals


 * Final (live broadcast)

Special episodes

 * Hidden Singer Begins 1 (aired on August 2, 2014)
 * Hidden Singer Begins 2 (aired on August 9, 2014)
 * Hidden Singer Lee Sun-hee Special (Episode 0; aired on August 16, 2014)

King of Kings' Challenge

 * Semifinals


 * Final (live broadcast)

Special episodes

 * Best performances of Hidden Singer 1 picked by JTBC anchors (aired on September 4, 2015)
 * Best performances of Hidden Singer 2 picked by Please Take Care of My Refrigerator team (aired on September 11, 2015)
 * Best performances of Hidden Singer 3 picked by Non-Summit members (aired on September 18, 2015)


 * Doppel-singer Music Festival

King of Kings' Challenge

 * Semifinals


 * Final (live broadcast)

Special episodes

 * Hidden Singer 5 Comeback Special (aired on June 10, 2018)
 * MC: Jun Hyun-moo, Song Eun-i (special)
 * Panel: Kim Kyung-ho, Hwanhee (Fly to the Sky), Gummy, Park Sung-kwang
 * Highlights of the previous seasons:
 * Doppelganger had the same voice and appearance with the singer: Lee Moon-se's part (S1 Ep.2), Lee Jae-hoon's part (S3 Ep.2)
 * Beautiful miracle made by the participant (the singer was eliminated before the last participant): Jo Sung-mo's part (S2 Ep.3), Lee Seung-hwan's part (S3 Ep.10), Min Kyung-hoon's part (S4 Ep.3)
 * Top 10 legends that you "want to see again":
 * 1st – Late Kim Kwang-seok's part (S2 Ep.12)
 * 2nd – Min Kyung-hoon's part (S4 Ep.3)
 * 3rd – Hwanhee's part (S3 Ep.4)
 * 4th – Im Chang-jung's part (S2 Ep.1)
 * 5th – Wheesung's part (S2 Ep.9)
 * 6th – Lee Sun-hee's part (S3 Ep.1)
 * 7th – Gummy's part (S4 Ep.11)
 * 8th – Lee Seung-hwan's part (S3 Ep.10)
 * 9th – Lee Jae-hoon's part (S3 Ep.2)
 * 10th – Yim Jae-beom's part (S4 Ep.9)
 * 11th – Kim Kyung-ho's part (S1 Pilot 2)
 * Season 5's line-up prediction: Jeon In-kwon, Psy, Kangta (H.O.T.), Bada (S.E.S.), K.Will, Hong Jin-young, Ailee

Special episodes

 * Hidden Singer 6 Comeback Special - Prologue (aired on July 31, 2020)
 * MC: Jun Hyun-moo, Song Eun-i (special)
 * Panel: Jang Minho, K.Will, Seunghee (Oh My Girl)
 * Congratulatory Squad Appearances (also joins as panel):
 * Young Tak (previously appeared on the Wheesung episode as a contestant (S2 Ep.9))
 * Kim Soo-chan (singer) (previously appeared on the Nam Jin episode as a contestant (S2 Ep.8))
 * Jang Woo-ram (singer) (previously appeared on the Kim Yeon-woo episode as a contestant (S4 Ep.8))
 * Highlights of the previous seasons:
 * Best 3 Sync Probabilities of Season 5: Kangta's part (Ep.1 round 3), Lyn's part (Ep.5 round 2), Bada's part (Ep.9 round 4), K.Will's part (Ep.4 round 2)
 * Trot Singers' Quiz (guessing which one of the six trot singers is not an impersonator)
 * Season 6 line-up hearing quiz
 * Season 6's line-up prediction: Rain, Hwasa (Mamamoo), Jang Beom-june, Kim Won-jun,, Kim Jong-kook, Jang Yoon-jeong, Baek Ji-young, Lee So-ra,
 * Season 6's line-up prediction: Rain, Hwasa (Mamamoo), Jang Beom-june, Kim Won-jun,, Kim Jong-kook, Jang Yoon-jeong, Baek Ji-young, Lee So-ra,


 * Hidden Singer 6 Special Live Broadcast Quiz (aired on September 18, 2020; labelled as episode 7)
 * MC: Jun Hyun-moo
 * Panel: Song Eun-i, Shindong (Super Junior), Seunghee (Oh My Girl), Baek Ji-young
 * Season 6's second half line-up: Kim Jong-kook,, Jang Yoon-jeong, Kim Wan-sun, Jang Beom-june, Lee So-ra

Ratings
In the ratings below, the highest rating for each season will be in red, and the lowest rating for the show will be in blue each for each season.

Season 7
Note: This program airs on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS).