There was a shock in living rooms across the nation as Pigeon was unmasked as comedian Katherine Ryan on The Masked Singer. Viewers watching at home suspected that the sassy singing bird on the wacky ITV singing contest was The Only Way Is Essex legend Gemma Collins, and the star panel were also thrown by Pigeon's Essex accent.
So jaws dropped when the mask was removed to reveal Canadian star Katherine, who was heavily pregnant at the time of filming. Katherine kept appearing on the hush hush show a secret from her fellow The Masked Singer fan daughter Violet, 13. She said after the big reveal: “You can’t tell my daughter anything because she’d spill it to her whole school so she’ll be finding out with everyone else. We watch the show together.”
And Katherine, 39, went on to reveal the moment Violet saw the unmasking. In a hilarious video shared on Katherine's Instagram Stories and Twitter, Violet jumped to her feet and fumed: "Obviously. I knew this the whole time I knew it wasn't Gemma." And she asked her mum: "Why would you lie?"
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The teen stormed off before returning to ask her mum: "You said you weren't on it? I knew it." Katherine could be heard off-camera saying about her baby girl Fenna Grace: "Aww Fenna can't believe it."
There were gasps on the show when Katherine revealed that she was a month away from giving birth during her stint on the show. She told host Joel Dommett: "I have a month left. I have a baby's foot in my lung at most times."
Katherine gave birth to her third child Fenna Grace on December 16, with her husband Bobby Kootstra announcing the news on Instagram. He typed: "Fenna Grace Kootstra Dec 16, at 12:05am. Mom is incredible! Proving her strength repeatedly through the relatively lengthy delivery at home. We are so blessed:) @kathbum." Katherine also has son Fred, who was born in June 2021.
Asked about her character, she saw Pigeon as a "sassy nana" and an "East End bird. A real grafter. And crucially, a fan of hip hop who can bust a move."
She said: "I was quite pregnant while filming and I thought the big pigeon costume would hide that. It was important for me that the character had a face because some of them don’t, but I personally connect better to the characters with faces. I felt like it was important to represent a strong pensioner and I loved that Pigeon was all comedy and not trying to be attractive for anyone else."
Katherine said about using an accent as part of her disguise: “I can only do a sort of Essex accent because I watch so much reality TV.” The star was told by the judges that the accent had thrown them.
The Masked Singer, Saturdays at 7pm on ITV1 & ITVX
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