TV host Jonathan Ross confesses he was 'slightly embarrassed' about failing to spot one of his own friends on The Masked Singer.
The presenter, who is on the show's judging panel, clearly knows and works with lots of stars in the world of showbiz but he was apparently caught out by one of his own celebrity friends on The Masked Singer when they sang undercover. Ross, who has been a chatshow host for more than 30 years, was in a prime spot to pick out his pal on stage - but failed to so.
He said: “One of them was definitely a friend. I mean, that was slightly embarrassing because I didn’t get them right," reports The Mirror.
Read more: How The Masked Singer's 'Knitting' was rumbled in giveaway clues
"I know this person socially and I’m in touch with this person via text quite a lot and all that kind of thing. After the show I texted them and had a chat with them, so that’s embarrassing."
He added of the unnamed pal: "It’s the first time it’s happened to me on the show. In my defence, I think we all should have got this person.”
The new series of the ITV hit, the fourth, kicked off on New Year's Day with Ross back on the panel alongside Davina McCall, Rita Ora and Mo Gilligan and Joel Dommett as host. And viewers again have been enjoying the challenge of trying to spot the identities of the stars who perform under an array of bizarre disguises, which this time include a rubbish bin, otter and a jacket potato.
The 'detectives' Ross and his colleagues have a tough job on their hands and Mo Gilligan said: “There’s an identity to be revealed on the show which I was so shocked by. You could have been running the show for two years and still no one would’ve got it.
"But the clues are so obvious once you see who it is. I think that’s the one that’s going to be quite fun for the public to try and guess. But the clues this year are so hard. Much harder than ever before.”
Ross, a three-time Bafta-winning for best entertainment performance, added: “The weird thing is, once you’ve got the idea in your head for someone and they kind of fit, it’s really hard to snap away from that and think about other people. You keep going back to your strongest guess.”
Comedy favourite Gilligan, who fronted the BRITs last year and is tipped to take over from James Corden in the US when he steps down from The Late Late Show reports The Mirror, said of his Masked Singer colleagues: “We’re from different backgrounds and we have different interests, which is cool.”
And it seems Ross encouraged him to try out something of his own eccentric clothing style, by donning a colourful snood and a glittery hat. Ross said: “We coaxed him into it. The problem with Mo is - and this is very irritating - that no matter what he wears, he looks amazing.
“He’s such a handsome young man. Even when we did a festival theme and I wore a tracksuit with wellies and had face paint on. He came out wearing a blue suit and I said ‘What festival is that? An estate agent’s festival'?
“They gave me a rainbow-coloured snood, a hoodie thing, and we went and put it on Mo - he just looked even better than before. He looked like he was wearing something incredibly expensive. On me, it looked like I had a colourful rag around my head.
"You put it on him, he looked like he had something by Dior or Gucci. Mo always looks spectacular. Annoyingly.” Gilligan added: “I wore a hat this series, it was a big deal for me. A yellow hat with gold.”
Both like the fact that The Masked Singer is a departure from their usual shows. “It’s probably the first thing I’ve been involved in which has an audience of kids," said Ross.
Gilligan added: “Kids just love it. I think it’s the fun and the spontaneity of the show. Every time you do it, it’s different, it’s new, it’s exciting.”
The new series of The Masked Singer - which is set to include two special themed episodes, one backtracking through the decades and another dedicated to festivals - continues on ITV1 and ITVX this Saturday at 7pm.
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