Edinburgh's Stephen Hendry has admitted that he faced fines from snooker bosses after he pulled out of events to film for ITV's The Masked Singer.
The 54-year-old, who is a former world champion in the sport, was uncovered as the character Rubbish on the ITV programme on Saturday night. After being "outed", the Scottish snooker player has revealed the lengths he had to go to in order to keep his link to the show a secret.
This included pulling out of a number of official events that left him being hit with numerous fines.
READ MORE - Masked Singer fans defend Edinburgh's Stephen Hendry after 'snobby comments'
When asked by the PA news agency what he told people when filming for the show, Hendry said: "I do have wildcards to play in some snooker events and I actually pulled out of a couple of events and got fined by the WPBSA (World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association) for doing it.
“And I couldn’t tell them why because this recording was going on and I couldn’t obviously say why I pulled out… I just said ‘Look, I can’t play the tournament’.
“So, yeah, it was, very, very, very strange… you’re dying to tell people what you’re doing but you can’t.”
The WPBSA, whose commercial arm is the World Snooker Tour, manages the rules overseeing snooker tournaments. Stephen said that he agreed to appear on The Masked Singer because he "loves" the show, and wanted to keep his anonymity during performances.
He added: “I have been asked to do the other reality shows, but the thing that appealed to me about this one obviously was the fact that you are in a costume. Nobody can see you.
“And obviously (there is no) stress – this is not a singing competition, it’s just a show that you just go in this costume and have fun.”
The sportsman added that his only experience of singing was doing karaoke in China - so he enlisted singing coach Mark De-Lisser to help.
Hendry said: “(Mark) just brought this out of me, which I didn’t know was in there, so it was really incredible and surprising to find that… I’m not saying I’m a great singer, but I’m better than I thought I was.
“He messaged me after Saturday night and joked the Christmas album was on the way, but, yeah, just joking. Look, that’s not going to happen.”
Edinburgh Live reported Stephen's reveal on the show at the time, as fans defended the snooker player for his performance.
Fans flocked to social media to share their surprise and fellow guesses on the unmasking of the Scottish sports star - with some having to defend the sportsman.
One comment read: "Wow! I see that the snobs are out in force and slagging Stephen Hendry off for appearing on The Masked Singer. Lighten up you miserable gits. Nice to see Stephen has a sense of humour and knows how to enjoy himself."
One Twitter user wrote: "That has to be one of the best reveals I’ve ever seen. I would never have expected to see Stephen Hendry on The Masked Singer.
"He was such a good singer & a great entertainer I can’t un-see the green velvet recycling bin as a snooker table now. Best costume ever."
The episode that unmasked Hendry drew an average audience of 4.3 million viewers based on overnight ratings. The Masked Singer returns on Saturday at 7pm on ITV and ITVX.
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