Chicken Caesar’s identity was revealed in the latest episode of ITV contest The Masked Singer UK.
The ITV contest calls on audience members – along with judges/super sleuths Davina McCall, Rita Ora, Jonathan Ross and Mo Gilligan – to guess which singing celebrities are behind the elaborate costumes.
After the second episode introduced six new characters, actor, presenter, musician and comedian Alexander Armstrong, 53, was revealed as the star behind the Chicken Caesar mask.
He had faced off against Piranha but ended up in the bottom three thanks to the audience’s votes.
It was then left to the judges to decide who they wanted to unmask.
Chicken Caesar was a rooster dressed in the style of a Roman emperor. In his video, he spoke with a Geordie accent and declared himself to be a “salad of great ambition”.
A shadow behind Chicken Caesar in the shape of a Brit Award could be seen behind him, later revealed to refer to Armstrong’s stint hosting the Classical Brit Awards.
Chicken Caesar on The Masked Singer— (ITV)
And while Ora and Gilligan were under the impression that Roman numerals formed the year 1966, it was actually 1970, the year of Armstrong’s birth.
Chicken Caesar/Armstrong sang “Under the Bridge” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Fans were particularly impressed by Chicken Caesar’s voice.
Armstrong, whose voice will be familiar to fans of the radio station Classic FM, is a classically trained singer who attended Trinity College, Cambridge, on a music scholarship.
He released his debut solo album A Year of Songs in 2015, reaching No 6 on the UK album charts. His second album, Upon a Different Shore, was also a top 10 hit.
Others know him as the host of the popular BBC One gameshow Pointless.
Legendary singer Dionne Warwick was sensationally revealed as Weather in the first episode, with viewers accusing ITV of “fixing” the series.
On social media, many audience members speculated that Warwick had agreed to make a single appearance on condition of starring in the UK show.
She previously appeared on The Masked Singer US in 2020 as Mouse, where she also went out after one episode.
After being unmasked on the US show, Warwick said: “It’s kind of hard to disguise my voice, unfortunately, in this case, and they recognised my voice, there’s nothing I can do about that.”
Busted star Charlie Simpson was crowned as the winner of The Masked Singer UK last year, after performing as Rhino. He beat fellow pop frontman, Kaiser Chiefs singer Ricky Wilson, who was disguised as Phoenix.
“It always swings hugely from being sublimely ridiculous to really stunning and magical,” McCall said of the series.
“If you haven’t watched it, you’d think, ‘Oh, that’s just a ridiculous show’, but it’s so much more than that. There’s so many aspects. There’s the entertainment aspect. There’s the quiz aspect. There’s the bit where you can take part in it at home alongside everybody else.
“It’s massive online because everybody’s going, ‘No, I think it’s this person. No, actually this person.’ We’ve gone next level with the clues this year and they really are disguising their voices. Joel’s on the best form ever. His links are so funny.
“It’s different from any other big shiny floor entertainment show because you are not voting somebody off, the audience chooses who are in the bottom two, and they choose who are in the bottom two generally out of a mixture of talent and fun.”
The Masked Singer airs on ITV on Saturday nights, with the final expected to take place in February.
