The third season of Your Face Sounds Familiar was a singing and impersonation competition for celebrities based on the Spanish version of the same name. It first aired on February 20, 2021, on Kapamilya Channel and A2Z. Sharon Cuneta and Gary Valenciano reprised their roles as judges while Ogie Alcasid, a judge in the Kids seasons replaced Jed Madela as judge whom reprised his role as mentor in the second season of the Kids edition alongside Nyoy Volante. Luis Manzano was named as the new host, replacing original host Billy Crawford due to his departure from the network in the aftermath of its shutdown, franchise denial and layoffs, which saw his transfer to blocktimer shows that are aired on TV5 This is also the first season to not air on ABS-CBN due to its shutdown and franchise denial in 2020, instead airing on the two aforementioned platforms and Kapamilya Online Live.
After 13 weeks of competition, Klarisse de Guzman emerged as the winner after attaining a total combined score of 90.00%. This is the first and currently only regular season to adopt the scoring system used in the finales of the Kids Editions.
Development
The season was confirmed in December 2020 during the Ikaw ang Liwanang at Ligaya: The ABS-CBN Christmas Special 2020. It was also confirmed that Luis Manzano will be the new host following Billy Crawford's departure from ABS-CBN following the network's aforementioned shutdown, denial and layoffs. This season marked the first regular season in five years after two consecutive seasons of the children's edition. The jury from the Kids seasons was retained for Season 3.
In 2021, the show revealed its first teaser along with the new title card and logo. The taping of the show's first three episodes started sometime in late January 2021.
Sharon Cuneta later confirmed that Jed Madela and Nyoy Volante will reprise their previous roles as mentors for vocals and choreography. Madela was replaced by Ogie Alcasid as a judge.
On February 4, 2021, the celebrity performers were announced.
It was also confirmed that Darren Espanto and AC Bonifacio will host the show's online companion show titled Your Face Sounds Familiar: KaFamiliar Online Live.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the season
As the season was held during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, which caused the country to go into various forms of community quarantine, the show implemented several health and safety protocols in the studio to ensure the safety of the artists, crew and staff from the threat of COVID-19. The show also entailed a lock-in taping set-up to produce three weeks of episodes per taping cycle, being taped without any studio audience admitted inside the studio. Instead, a virtual audience via Zoom is admitted instead while using artificial crowd noise, while Darren Espanto and AC Bonifacio hosted the online companion show through Remote work also via Zoom.
In late March 2021, a surge of COVID-19 cases in the Greater Manila Area caused by the Alpha and Beta variants of the said virus resulted in a reimposition of the enhanced community quarantine in the aforementioned areas from March 29 to April 11, 2021, which caused the show to temporarily suspended tapings of new episodes in compliance with the community quarantine guidelines during the said period, and Director's cut versions of several past episodes of the season were aired instead on April 4, 10 and 11.
The show's taping of new episodes resumed on April 14, 2021, while rehearsals for the third taping cycle started on April 12, 2021, following the downgrade to modified enhanced community quarantine.
After six weeks of being part of the show, Jhong Hilario, one of the contestants, chose to quit the show due to the pandemic. He mentioned that he made the decision for the wellbeing of his newborn baby, as babies are among those who are susceptible to the coronavirus. At the time of his withdrawal, he had 107 points, having won weeks 1 and 2.
Geneva Cruz was also unable to work for the third taping cycle, which spanned three weeks of airing (Week 7–9) due to her exposure to COVID-19 at the time of the third taping cycle. This occurred after her mother was confirmed to have contracted the virus and subsequently died.
Hosts, judges, and mentors
Host
Luis Manzano served as the new host, replacing Billy Crawford due to the latter's departure from the network.