Why did Nicole Scherzinger leave The Masked Singer? The exit was billed as temporary — it never got reversed
Nicole Scherzinger sat on The Masked Singer panel from the 2019 premiere through season 10. Then Fox announced she was stepping away for one season, with a fill-in already hired. That was September 2023. She has not been back since.
She left for a stage role. Scherzinger was cast as Norma Desmond in Jamie Lloyd's West End revival of Sunset Boulevard, which opened in London on October 12, 2023 — the same window season 11 was filming in Los Angeles. Fox announced on September 13, 2023, that Rita Ora would take her chair. Scherzinger has sat out every season since.
She was blunt with People about the conflict:
"I had to actually choose between The Masked Singer season 11 and Sunset Boulevard," she said in 2023.
The role was worth it
Scherzinger won the 2024 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the West End run. The production transferred to Broadway in September 2024, and she won the 2025 Tony for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. The Broadway run closed on July 13, 2025.
The seasons she's missed
What was framed as a one-season absence has now stretched to four:
- Season 11 (2024) — West End run of Sunset Boulevard. Rita Ora's first season.
- Season 12 (2024) — Broadway transfer prep, plus her Netflix series Building the Band.
- Season 13 (2025) — Ora returns again; Fox never announces a Scherzinger date.
- Season 14 (2026 ) — panel confirmed in October 2025 as Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Robin Thicke, and Ora, with Nick Cannon hosting.
Season 14 premiered in January 2026 and wrapped on April 1, with Ashlee Simpson unmasked as Galaxy Girl and Phillip Phillips as runner-up. Ora's fourth season on the panel is now longer than most panelists get anywhere.
Was she fired?
No. Fox has never said anything to that effect, and neither has anyone on the panel. Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg told Entertainment Weekly the cast was happy for her about the West End opportunity. The show's line has consistently been that Ora stepped in because of Scherzinger's schedule.
Is the door still open?
Officially, yes. Ora, of all people, keeps saying so — she told Collider in January 2026 that Scherzinger is always welcome and floated a joint appearance, complete with a portmanteau nickname for the two of them.
"I'd literally share my seat with her," Ora said.
For the record: with Sunset Boulevard closed since July 2025, the scheduling excuse expired more than a year ago. So far, no return has been announced.