The Masked Singer UK judges share excitement for Christmas special

The Masked Singer is getting a sprinkle of Christmas cheer this festive season for the very first time, as the award winning entertainment show unveils The Masked Singer: Christmas Special.  

Hosted by our very own ringmaster, Joel Dommett, our super sleuths return as Davina McCall, Rita Ora, Jonathan Ross and Mo Gilligan are back in the detective chairs and joining them is special guest panellist, award winning singer songwriter Leona Lewis.  

The TV special will see four characters unwrapped as they attempt to fool the panel and viewers at home.  Viewers will see performances from Decorations, Reindeer, Sprout and Partridge (In A Pear Tree), but which famous faces are hiding behind the masks!   

Davina McCall says: “It always swings hugely from being sublimely ridiculous to really stunning and magical.  There’s a million reasons why I believe it deserves a BAFTA, because if you haven’t watched it, you’d think, “Oh, that’s just a ridiculous show”, but it’s so much more than that. There’s so many aspects. There’s the entertainment aspect. There’s the quiz aspect. There’s the bit where you can take part in it at home alongside everybody else. It’s massive online because everybody’s going, “No, I think it’s this person. No, actually this person.” We’ve gone next level with the clues this year and they really are disguising their voices.  Joel’s on the best form ever. His links are so funny. It’s different from any other big shiny floor entertainment show because you are not voting somebody off, the audience chooses who are in the bottom two, and they choose who are in the bottom two generally out of a mixture of talent and fun”.

Rita Ora says: “It’s amazing to be back. I love being with everyone, we have so much fun together. It’s one of my favourite things to do, I love the panel, I love having this job and I love doing this show. I’ve come back with better detective skills, I’d like to think.  We’ll see how good they are but I am very grateful and happy to be back. These guys are like family”.

Mo Gilligan says: “The Masked Singer has its place amongst Saturday night TV with this award behind it, it’s just incredible.  I meet people or friends of mine who have kids and they have so many questions for me, they love it, can’t get enough of it. It’s nice that people ask me questions like, “Do you really not know who it is?” And I meet a lot of taxi drivers and they’re always asking me who people are. The way it’s captured the nation’s imagination is really cool. So to have a BAFTA award, we’re up there with the Saturday night greats”.

Jonathan Ross says: “We know the show is popular, because of course we know it gets big viewing figures, but I think maybe it just reflects the fact that people do love the big, silly spectacle of it all.   The format is such a strong, such a strange and a unique one and I think that’s what people are responding to. It’s fun, silly, doesn’t take itself seriously, it’s beautifully made and always looks spectacular.   There’s some really good reveals every week. So I think it won the award because people are responding to the fact that it’s a really different show and it’s really lovely. So much work goes into making it as good as possible”.

Watched The Masked Singer Christmas Special, 7pm on ITV1 and ITVX on Christmas Day.