Sing Your Face Off Explained

Genre:Reality competition
Based On:Your Face Sounds Familiar
Presenter:John Barrowman
Judges:
Country:United States
Language:English
Num Seasons:1
Num Episodes:6
Executive Producer:Georgie Hurford-Jones
Camera:Multiple camera
Company:Endemol USA
Channel:ABC

Sing Your Face Off is a reality singing series that was aired on ABC during the 2013–14 American television season. It was based on both the Endemol format Your Face Sounds Familiar and an adaptation of the Spanish "Tu cara me suena," the latter of whose title translated as "Your face is familiar to me." The first season consisted of six episodes, with two episodes airing back-to-back over three weeks.[1] The first season premiered on May 31, 2014,[2] and concluded on June 14, 2014. No plans were known to have been formed for a second season. Actress and singer China Anne McClain won the first and only season.

Premise

In the context of the program's celebrity-oriented premise, for such a celebrity to "sing one's face off" meant to sing live, but also to do so as part of an impersonation of a prominent recording artist. (The Legends In Concert productions were organized along a similar premise, featuring "tribute artists" who looked and sounded like those to whom they paid tribute.)

The premise of the show had the celebrities spin the "face finder wheel" at the end of the previous show to determine as which artist they would sing their faces off, with the exception of week 1 when the celebrities were given their artist. They then spent the week practicing the song along with any other necessary practicing such as playing an instrument, choreography, etc. that went along with the performance. They also spent that week getting any necessary make-up formats, outfits, accessories, or such that they needed to look like the artist as whom they would perform.

They then performed the songs, as the artist, and were given an individual score by each of the judges. This score was ranged on a scale from 1 to 10, and the maximum possible total was 30 points. At the end of all the performances, the celebrities were each given the chance to give an extra three points to any one of the other celebrities. The judges' scores and the extra points given by the celebrities were then added together to determine the winner for each night's episodes.

The celebrities' rankings on the scoreboard at the end of that week determined the order in which the celebrities then spun the "face finder wheel" to determine the artist as whom they would perform the following week.
At the end of four weeks, the celebrity with the lowest combined scores of all their four performances was eliminated from the competition.

From Week 4 on, at the end of the week, the celebrity with the lowest total score for that week was eliminated until the list of celebrities was narrowed down to a list of "Final 3" performers. The Final 3 performers then performed one more time; after that performance, the judges voted on who they believed should be crowned the winner of Sing Your Face Off; the celebrity then needed two votes out of the three from the judges to win.

Cast

Contestants

CelebrityNotability (known for)
Sebastian BachSkid Row lead singer
Landry FieldsNBA small forward
Jon LovitzComedian & actor
China Anne McClainActress and McClain lead singer
Lisa RinnaActress & television host

Judges

Debbie Gibson and Darrell Hammond acted as judges on every episode, while the third judge varied with each episode.

Guest judges

WeekCelebrityNotability (known for)
1David Alan GrierFilm, television & Broadway actor
2RuPaulTelevision host & drag queen
3Carnie WilsonWilson Phillips singer
4Richard SimmonsFitness entrepreneur
5Tom ArnoldComedic movie actor
6Carmen ElectraFilm & television actress

Performances

Celebrity Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6
China Anne McClain Whitney Houston
Lisa Rinna Madonna
Landry Fields Little Richard
Jon Lovitz Redfoo (Special Performance)
Sebastian Bach --- Sky Blu (Special Performance)

Overall scores

Red numbers indicate the singer whose score was lowest for that week.Green numbers indicate the singer whose score was highest for that week.

indicates an eliminated singer.

indicates an eliminated singer who was eliminated by Judges Choice.

indicates the winning singer.

indicates the runner-up singer.

indicates the third-place singer.

SingerPlace12341+2+3+456
China Anne McClain1 34 28 35 71 168 36 2
Landry Fields228283158145310
Lisa Rinna224322870154310
Jon Lovitz424 38 314714030
Sebastian Bach530262856140
  1. Rather than give scores out of 30 for the contestants's performances, the judges each voted for who they thought deserved to win Sing Your Face Off. The celebrity then needed two out of three votes in order to win Sing Your Face Off.
  2. Since both Darrell Hammond and Debbie Gibson voted for China Anne McClain to win, China had the majority of the votes to win Sing Your Face Off, and Carmen Electra's vote was thus never revealed, leaving both Lisa Rinna and Landry Fields as runners-up.

Weekly scores and songs

Week 1

Running order
CelebrityScoreExtra PointsMusic
Jon Lovitz24 (9, 8, 7)0"Bennie and the Jets"-Elton John
Landry Fields25 (9, 8, 8)3 (Lisa)"Dancing on the Ceiling"-Lionel Richie
China Anne McClain28 (10, 9, 9)6 (Sebastian and Jon)"Diamonds"-Rihanna
Sebastian Bach24 (9, 7, 8)6 (China and Landry)"Moves like Jagger"-Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera
Lisa Rinna24 (9, 8, 7)0"9 to 5"-Dolly Parton

Week 2

Running order
CelebrityScoreExtra PointsMusic
China Anne McClain28 (9, 9, 10)0"Proud Mary"-Tina Turner
Lisa Rinna26 (8, 9, 9)6 (Jon and Landry)"...Baby One More Time"-Britney Spears
Jon Lovitz29 (10, 10, 9)9 (China, Lisa, and Sebastian)"La donna è mobile"-Luciano Pavarotti
Landry Fields28 (9, 9, 10)0"I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)"-Pitbull
Sebastian Bach26 (9, 9, 8)0"Bad Romance"-Lady Gaga

Week 3

Running order
CelebrityScoreExtra PointsMusic
Landry Fields25 (8, 8, 9)6 (China and Jon)"Hero"-Enrique Iglesias
Lisa Rinna28 (9, 9, 10)0"Hot N Cold"-Katy Perry
China Anne McClain29 (10, 9, 10)6 (Landry and Lisa)"Rockin' Robin"-Michael Jackson
Sebastian Bach28 (9, 10, 9)0"Always on My Mind"-Willie Nelson
Jon Lovitz28 (9, 9, 10)3 (Sebastian)"Rebel Yell"-Billy Idol

Week 4

Running order
CelebrityScoreExtra PointsMusic
Sebastian Bach50 (17, 16, 17)6 (Jon)"We Are the Champions"-Queen
Landry Fields58 (19, 19, 20)0"Starships"-Nicki Minaj
Jon Lovitz47 (16, 15, 16)0"I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)"-Meat Loaf
Lisa Rinna58 (20, 19, 19)12 (Landry and China)"Baby"-Justin Bieber
China Anne McClain59 (20, 19, 20)12 (Sebastian and Lisa)"Girl on Fire"-Alicia Keys

Week 5

Running order
CelebrityScoreExtra PointsMusic
China Anne McClain30 (10, 10, 10)6 (Lisa and Landry)"Living in America"-James Brown
Lisa Rinna28 (9, 10, 9)3 (Jon)"Girls Just Want to Have Fun"-Cyndi Lauper
Jon Lovitz30 (10, 10, 10)0"Oh, Pretty Woman"-Roy Orbison
Landry Fields28 (9, 10, 9)3 (China)"U Can't Touch This"-MC Hammer

Week 6

Running order
CelebrityNumber of Judges Votes to WinMusic
Lisa Rinna0"Material Girl"-Madonna
Landry Fields0"Tutti Frutti"-Little Richard
China Anne McClain2 (Darrell and Debbie)"The Greatest Love of All"-Whitney Houston
Special PerformancesMusic
Jon Lovitz & Sebastian Bach"Sexy and I Know It" -LMFAO
Debbie Gibson & Darrell Hammond

Revival possibilities

In June 2014, Debbie Gibson, one of the judges, lent her support to efforts to renew Sing Your Face Off for a second season. However, ABC has not announced any plans for a second season.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: ABC Orders Celebrity Competition 'Sing Your Face Off'. Goldberg. Leslie. The Hollywood Reporter. April 29, 2013. April 26, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140328231125/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/abc-orders-celebrity-competition-sing-448417. March 28, 2014. live.
  2. Web site: ABC Tweaks Summer Schedule, Slots 'Sing Your Face Off' On Saturday. Andreeva. Nellie. Deadline Hollywood. April 4, 2014. April 26, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140411041922/http://www.deadline.com/2014/04/abc-tweaks-summer-schedule-sing-your-face-off-to-air-saturday/#more-709882. April 11, 2014. live.