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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Ashleigh Rainbird & Katherine Heslop

Masked Singer's Charlie Simpson 'absolutely terrified' after close encounter with lion

In the Kenyan outback, a sleeping rhino narrowly avoided getting mauled by a lion.

The rhino in question was the Masked Singer winner Charlie Simpson, who ­specifically selected his elaborate costume as a nod to his wife Anna’s roots.

“My wife grew up in Kenya,” the Busted star says. “I spend a lot of time in Kenya and we spend a lot of time on safari. I wanted to sort of represent that side of my family.”

But he recalls a time when things got hairy (literally) in the Masai Mara. Charlie says: “We camped in the Mara and there was a lion outside my tent.

Rhino, AKA Charlie Simpson, won The Masked Singer (ITV)

"You’re meant to have an Askari – a guard who looks after your camp. That night, ours wasn’t there.

“My wife was there and this f***ing lion literally sounded like a diesel engine. It was 10 feet away. I could hear the pitter patter of our cutlery outside. I didn’t know what to do – I was f***ing s****ing myself.

“I got a match and I said to my wife: ‘I’m gonna burn the tent and then we just run.’ Luckily the lion sort of pattered away. I was absolutely terrified.”

So he narrowly avoided having to run away from a lion, and a fire. A double win.

Charlie had a very close encounter with a lion while camping (Getty Images)

Glastonbury mystery

It may only be four months away but we are still awaiting the full Glastonbury line-up.

So thanks to Tom Grennan, who confirms he will perform on the Other Stage on the Saturday. After which, he can really make the most of the festival.

“I’m staying in a tipi,” the singer said after his turn at EE’s pre-BAFTAs reception at London’s Corinthia hotel, adding proudly: “I’m going up in the world.”

'Bittersweet time'

Austin Butler said his BAFTA win was 'bittersweet' after the death of Lisa Marie Presley (Eric Charbonneau/REX/Shutterstock)

While it’s lovely for BAFTAs’ Best Actor Austin Butler to be celebrated during awards season for his role as Elvis, it comes amid a time of grieving for the King’s family after the loss of Lisa Marie Presley last month.

“It’s been a really unimaginably tragic time,” he says. “Grief is a long process. I feel honoured to have been welcomed into a family. It’s a bittersweet time.”

Lisa Marie, who was Elvis’s only child, had praised director Baz Luhrmann’s “spectacular” biopic, and said Austin “channeled and embodied my father’s heart and soul beautifully”.

Carl Fogarty keeping up with Love Island

It’s nice to know that former motorcycle racer Carl Fogarty is keeping up with daughter Claudia’s exploits on Love Island.

Although he might not have been happy to see her partner, Casey O’Gorman, being straddled and kissed by another girl while Claudia was in Casa Amor.

But in footage shown on Love Island spin-off Aftersun, the family cheered Casey when he returned to Claudia, with Carl urging him: “Pick her, I know you want to.” Don’t risk the wrath of the Fogs.

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