Here's Why 'I Can See Your Voice' Wasn't Socially Distanced Last Night

Fox’s new series I Can See Your Voice was announced as Fox’s newest musical series earlier this year before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the producers only filmed one episode before COVID-19 hit in March. After that, they were forced into quarantine (like the rest of us), although I Can See Your Voice was one of the first shows to come back with COVID-19 restrictions in place. But on Nov. 18, something changed.

In the Nov. 18 episode of I Can See Your Voice, there were plenty of changes from the episodes that aired starting in September. In previous episodes, there were a lot of social distancing restrictions, and then all of a sudden, host Ken Jeong was hugging a contestant, so why did I Can See Your Voice change?

Because I Can See Your Voice is a show in which every episode can stand alone, the producers could air the episodes in any order that they wanted. The episode that aired Nov. 18 was actually the only episode filmed before pandemic hit in March of 2020. So the earlier episodes that started on Sept. 23 were actually filmed later than the episode that aired last night.

In the earlier episodes (which were actually filmed later), the judges and contestants must stay six feet apart and wear masks when not on camera. Even though the show has a similar team to Fox’s The Masked Singer, the contestants and judges are wearing masks in this show for a very different reason.

In the Nov. 18 episode of I Can See Your Voice, host and producer Ken Jeong hugged one of the contestants. While that might not have seemed surprising in early 2020, these days, it's a strange and alarming sight. In addition, there was a live audience, and while it was an adjustment to have no live audience at first, we definitely noticed the change to having one last night.

In addition to the social distancing changes, the set also looked slightly different. Because of the hiatus I Can See Your Voice was forced to take due to the coronavirus, the producers and set designers had some time to make additional changes to the set both to make up for the lack of audience, as well as to introduce some other COVID-19 safety protocols.

Like The Masked Singer, I Can See Your Voice is based on a Korean series of the same format. However, this show is unlike any other singing competition. On shows like The Voice and The Masked Singer, it’s all about the talent of the contestants. However, I Can See Your Voice is a little more humor-driven. Instead of judging the contestants on their talent, they are judged on how talented they appear to be.

The panel of celebrity judges watches videos of the contestants lip syncing, as well as some true and false evidence and hidden clues, to figure out if they are good or bad at singing. Whoever the judges pick as being good at singing then gets to perform with one of the musical guests — if they turn out to be good, they get a special prize. But if they turn out to be bad, they get a cash prize of $100,000 — so maybe it’s time to quit singing lessons and practice our lip syncing instead!