Season 12 of The Masked Singer has promised some epic new surprises, including the introduction of Masked Singer Ambassadors.

What Are ‘Masked Singer’ Ambassadors?

During season 12 of the singing competition show, each contestant will be introduced by a Masked Ambassador. It’s a person who has a close relationship with the contestant underneath the mask and has experienced being on the show before. Basically, alumni will be returning to help folks at home figure out the identities of the new singers under the masks this season.

“Masked Ambassadors are really cool because they’re really friends of whoever’s behind the mask,” host Nick Cannon told Us Weekly. “Sometimes they’ve been on the show, they have a connection to the show and it just gives you an extra clue of who the celebrity might be. You can hear about their inside jokes and things with how they know.”

Nick shared that one ambassador who will be making an appearance during the season is Dick Van Dyke. He previously competed as Gnome on season 9 of the show. “To me, that was one of the greatest reveals and greatest performances that we’ve had on the show,” Nick said. “For him to come back and be an ambassador was really cool.”

Showrunner Rosie Seitchik also teased some details with Entertainment Weekly about the ambassadors, saying that they will be “presenting the new singers to us in newfangled clue packages in their premiere episodes. I’ll leave it at that for right now. But they’re basically being ushered into the season via the endorsement of an old masked singer.”

There Will Be Some Fun-Themed Episodes

Nick also shared that there will be themed episodes as the show has done in past seasons. There will be one night dedicated to Miley Cyrus.

“Miley Cyrus Night was a fun night,” he said. “All of her music is great so to see the people performing that, it was some fun.”

There will also be Barbie and Footloose-themed episodes, as well as Thanksgiving Night and Soundtrack of My Life.

In another fun twist, the contestants’ costumes will also be a huge source of clues this season.

“Some costumes are a larger clue to who the people are based on the character itself,” Seitchik said. “And then others have more specific objects. And it’s really based on the design, whether the design necessitates putting objects and props within them.”

Who Are the Season 12 ‘Masked Singer’ Judges?

The judges for season 12 of The Masked Singer are Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Ken Jeong, Robin Thicke and Rita Ora. Rita is taking Nicole Scherzinger’s seat at the judging panel for the second season in a row.

In the premiere episode, viewers will see performances by Buffalo, Leaf Sheep, Showbird, Ship and Woodpecker. One contestant will be eliminated at the end based on judges and audience votes.

The second group of contestants will feature Wasp, Goo, Dust Bunny, Chess Piece and Bluebell, while the third group will highlight Strawberry Shortcake, Sherlock Hound, Royal Knight, Macaron and Ice King.

The Masked Singer season 12 premieres on Fox on Wednesday, September 25 from 8-9 p.m. ET.