JLS star Aston Merrygold is buzzing with excitement to be joining The Masked Singer's live tour but this time he won't be singing.
Aston, who was unmasked as Robin in series two, will be on the other side of the fence as a judge when the tour hits Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena on Saturday, April 16.
"It's very very exciting. I kind of know what to expect but then at the same time I don't know what to expect so it's all part of the draw for me.
"It's going to be fun, I can't wait," he says.
The live tour takes to the stage for the first time this year, after three ITV series, which have seen the likes of Michelle Williams, Aled Jones. Jason Manford, Nicola Roberts, Ne-Yo and Michael Owen perform dressed as a penguin, traffic cone, hedgehog, bee, badger and a doughnut.
So how good a detective does Aston reckon he'll be?
Judging by the names he got right while watching the last series at his Hertfordshire home with fiancée Sarah Edwards, he stands a good chance of guessing the secret celebrities on the tour.
"She turns it into a competition and then gets mad at me if and when I win," he laughs.
"I got Natalie Imbruglia straight away and Mark (Feehily) and Charlotte Church," he says, which is just as well since Robin returned to sing a duet with Charlotte's character Mushroom, We Found Love, in the grand final.
"There was quite a few surprises in there though."
One of the reasons he wanted to take part in the second series was to see his son Grayson's reaction when all was revealed.
"The big draw for doing this show was I really wanted to see my son's reaction as soon as I took off the head. I got the reaction I wanted and it was priceless.
"He didn't say much at first he was like 'ah' and the surprise and he was going 'daddy, that that's you, but you're here, but that's you'. He was only two at the time so that excitement was on a whole another level," says the star, who first shot to fame with boyband JLS on the X Factor.
The Robin costume was the perfect tie-in. "For me with the Robin theme I'm a massive comic book geek and I love Marvel and DC and that kind of stuff. My son's name is Grayson and in the Batman comic you've got Dick Grayson who was actually Robin."
The extravagant costumes are stiflingly hot to perform in and there's many impediments.
"From a singer's point of view, when you're taught to sing from a young age, it's like express yourself and throw the voice out there and project.
"In this, you do have to do that but you're in such a confined space because you're right next to the head and wearing this heavy outfit.
"It's not a comfortable feeling at first... this doesn't feel normal and where you're normally concentrating on just your voice, making sure you're hitting all the notes and in the right key, this time you have to make sure your head's on right, you're walking straight and your coat's in the right place - you've got all these other things to be thinking about where usually it might be a song and a dance routine."
Robin was eliminated in the grand final, finishing in third place in 2021 after guesses including Olly Murs, Lee Ryan, Gareth Gates, James Blunt, Nicky Byrne, Craig David, Jack Grealish, and even Big Narstie.
He was chuffed by some of the suggestions.
"James Blunt? If you've got that type of range I'd be 'yes please, thank you very much. I'll take that.'
"A lot of people said my name from the off but then it threw so many by week three and four because I'd done songs that people hadn't heard my voice go in a certain range, so they were like 'maybe it's not.' It was a nice rollercoaster of a ride seeing people guessing me."
The 34-year-old said it was the easiest secret to keep from family and friends.
"My partner knew as she was heavily pregnant and it would have been a little bit odd me kind of going, 'right I'm going out' and then disappear for 10-12 hours. We didn't want any kind of worry so she knew and just my manager.
"Honestly It was really easy - I just ignored everybody that messaged me, called me. Nah, I'm not having this conversation. I just didn't reply."
Secrecy is so tight the performers don't know who their fellow competitors are.
"You don't see anybody at all. On my series I sang Closer by Ne-Yo and Ne-Yo (who was Badger) was standing right next to me at the time but obviously I didn't know it was him.
"It was a very interesting one for me, one of guys I grew up listening to, singing his song, just standing right next to me. I hope I did it justice."
Aston will join fellow Masked Singer competitor Denise Van Outen, who was revealed as the Fox in the first series, plus a third guest judge when the tour rolls into Nottingham.
There will be performances by some of the series' favourite characters plus two new celebrities who will be unmasked to chants of "take it off" at every venue, so the judges will be as much in the dark as the audience.
"It's good wholesome family entertainment and I think everyone can get involved and have a favourite for different reasons, because they like the outfit, or this song or their voice. It's a whole array of things which is the brilliance of the show.
"It's a massive game of guess who? I think it creates that family competition, that bit of fun that has been missing for years on TV," adds Aston, who has not long finished JLS's Beat Again tour.
Tickets from £30 are on sale at motorpointarenanottingham.com
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