The Masked Singer finale aired last night and saw Queen Bee (Nicola Roberts) win the show. The Masked Singer was created in South Korea and was originally titled ‘The King of Mask Singer’. The franchise became a mega hit in the US and was taken across the pond where it caused quite a storm. The show features celebrities disguised in extravagant costumes and the aim of the game is to figure out who is behind the mask as they give you clues to their identity and through the sound of the voice. It is one of the greatest shows on telly and can be described as an ‘acid trip’ version of The X Factor. The star-studded judging panel consisted of Davina McCall, Rita Ora, Ken Jeong and Jonathan Ross who were all as confused as we were trying to guess who was behind the mask.
Octopus came third in The Masked Singer and her final performance saw her sing the Mary Poppins classic ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’; opera singer Katherine Jenkins was behind the mask. At the beginning of the series Octopus disguised her voice by putting on an American accent, when in fact she was Welsh, this tricked the judges as for a while they were only naming American celebrities as the person behind the mask. Octopus’s clues were that she had runway experience and looks up to Naomi Campbell. She also left hints that she could be an Emmerdale star as one clue mentioned her being in “the Dales” whilst filmed wearing wellies leading many at home (and Jonathan Ross) to think Octopus was Sheree Murphy. One of Octopus’s highlights was her rendition of Madonna’s ‘Vogue’.
Second place goes to the Hedgehog who was by far the hardest masked singer to guess, the judges were undecided if Hedgehog was a theatre performer or a comedian with the guesses ranging between Eddie Izzard to Michael Ball. Hedgehog also revealed he is happiest onstage and “most active at night” which made it even harder for the judges and those at home to know if the Hedgehog was an actor or comedian. All was revealed that the man behind the mask was in fact Jason Manford, a shocking revelation for the viewers at home as no one knew he had such a great singing voice. Octopus’s standout performance has to be his rendition of ‘Black Magic’ by Little Mix as he put on an incredibly posh operatic performance.
The winner of The Masked Singer UK was Queen Bee who was a slightly more predictable reveal as the judges decided very early on that the person behind the mask was a member of a girl band. Many of her clues implied she was a girl band star who rose to fame as a teenager on a competition show, leading many to think it was rather a member of Little Mix or Girls Aloud. Other guesses that were thrown about was that the Queen Bee was actually a royal family member such as Princess Beatrice. It was revealed however the judges initial incline that the person behind the mask was right as it was revealed Girls Aloud member Nicola Roberts was the person behind the mask. This was not a shocking, but it did show the amazing musicality of the Girls Aloud member who was not the main singer within the band. Her rendition of Lewis Capaldi’s ‘Someone You Loved’ brought the judges (and myself) to tears and shows exactly why she deserved to be the first ever winner of The Masked Singer UK.
Other stars to revealed on the show were Denise Van Outen (Fox), Patsy Palmer (Butterfly), CeeLo Green (Monster) and football legend Teddy Sheringham (Tree).
Catch the whole series of The Masked Singer here on ITV Hub.
