Viewers wait in anticipation to unmask the ‘Warrior’ and ‘Lion’ this week

The Masked Singer SA has promised the most mind-blowing unmasking of the season tomorrow – but can they beat the unexpected surprise that was veteran soccer star Doctor Khumalo?

In the past five weeks, the debut season of the local spin-off of the international phenomenon has proven to be a hit with television viewers unmasking Football (Khumalo), Zebra (The Lazy Makoti), Rooster (Victor Matfield), Hippo (David Kau) and Banana (Bongani Bingwa).    

This week, the regular detectives Somizi Mhlongo, J’Something, Sithelo Shozi and Skhumba Hlophe will be joined by radio broadcaster Tbo Touch as a guest judge.

Head of costume and design Heidi du Toit has given clues and hints on who might be behind the Warrior and Lion. 

“It was quite a challenge to manufacture the Warrior costume. It was the biggest costume of them all. We had to design the shield to make sure that the colours match the picture. It was a challenge to make sure that the shield was comfortable and fitted nicely over the shoulders,” she said.  

“We first tried to patch fabrics together to create the look of the shield but in the end, we decided it was better to print the fabric to look like the picture. We used stones and braids to create a more glamorous look befitting showbiz.

“The headpiece was also a big challenge. It took us a week and a half just to weave the pieces of hair that had to join the front piece of the mask. The mask was a piece of art. We hand-painted and airbrushed the mask and used stones to create that glamorous look.”  

Du Toit added that the prolific face underneath the Warrior was excited about his first costume discussion with her as his biggest concern was how the wardrobe team would be able to create the costume to look like the referenced picture.     

“The Warrior is such a pleasant and interesting person, he is very calm. The first time he performed on stage he was very excited once again and it was quite a challenge because it is a big shield and we had to make sure that there was enough space for him to fit Into the fitting room as well as backstage. However, to my surprise, he pulled it off and made it work. He is most certainly one of my favourite masks,”  she said.

Touching on the design process of Lion, Du Toit said that they had to focus on the front part of the face first.

“The front piece of the mask was a formed hard shell. We finished it off by airbrushing it in gold,” she said.  

“The Lion’s mask posed a big challenge. We had to cut and form each piece of hair individually. The other challenge we had with the Lion was that he wasn’t available for taking measurements. We had a picture of the celebrity, his shoe size. His height and pants size which we had to work from.”