Arthur Nery may have swapped the mask for a judge’s seat, but he’s kept the same wide-eyed curiosity that once defined his time as a contestant.
Now one of the four judge-detectives in Masked Singer Pilipinas Season 3, Nery recalled how his past experience as a contestant shaped his approach to guessing the identities of this year’s masked performers.
“Siguro ’yung curiosity ko dati, as contestant, nadala ko siya as judge,” he said during the show’s media conference held on April 29. “Kasi dati, pag dumadaan ako sa mga kasama kong contestants, ginaganon ko talaga, ‘Hello, kumusta?’ Tapos pagsumagot, sasabihin ko, ‘Sino kaya ’yun?’”
That same energy, he admitted, has carried over—albeit with a bolder twist.
“So ngayon, iba naman ’yung approach ko. Minimessage ko lahat ng mga friends ko na artists. Wala nang intro-intro. Parang, ‘Good evening, sumali ka bang Masked Singer?’” he said, drawing laughter from his co-panelists and the press.
Nery joins Nadine Lustre, Pops Fernandez, and Janno Gibbs on the show’s new judging panel, with Billy Crawford returning as host.
This marks the first season with a live studio audience, adding even more excitement to the celebrity guessing game.
Having started as a soft-spoken performer himself, Nery admitted he was nervous at first. But the warmth of the cast and crew quickly helped him open up.
“At first, kabado talaga ako,” he said. “Pero nung nakita ko ’yung mga kasama kong judges, talagang winelcome nila ako.”
Now comfortably seated on the other side of the stage, Nery has also revealed a more humorous and animated side that surprised even his co-judges.
Known for his soulful ballads and quiet demeanor, he quickly became one of the show’s unexpected sources of comic relief.
“Revelation po si Arthur Nery dito,” Pops Fernandez said. “Ito na, nagsalita na—ayaw na tumigil.”
Despite playfully downplaying his detective skills—“Ako po ’yung pinaka walang alam… do not listen to me,” he joked—Nery remains fully engaged, even consulting Google during shooting breaks and poking fun at himself on-camera.
Masked Singer Pilipinas Season 3 premieres May 17 on TV5, airing on weekends at 7:45 p.m.
