The Masked Singer host Joel Dommett has revealed some of the panel’s guesses are so outlandish they don’t even make it into the final edit. Particularly when Rita Ora starts throwing around the names of dead celebs.
Joel can currently be seen fronting the fifth series of the star-studded guessing game, which has so far seen music icon Dionne Warwick, TV legend Alexander Armstrong and Strictly Come Dancing favourite Shirley Ballas being unmasked.
During an interview on Radio X, the former I’m A Celebrity finalist revealed a “classic” guess from Rita that was left on the cutting room floor “for various reasons”.
“This is classic Rita Ora,” Joel began.
“I think it might have been the first series, might have been the second. Someone was on, I can’t remember who, and she genuinely – and there was no joke behind this – this was her serious guess, she thought it was Muhammad Ali.”
Yes, the same Muhammad Ali that died in 2016.
“I love her so much,” the host added, explaining he thinks the moment “had to be cut from the show for various reasons”.
That being said, this isn’t the first time a dead celebrity has been guessed on the show.
During the very first series, ITV issued an apology when Jonathan Ross suggested that Natalie Cole was underneath one costume, despite her having died five years earlier.
Since then, Jonathan has admitted that some of the panellists (namely Rita) have sometimes had a bit of trouble identifying the celebrity guests – even after they’re unmasked.
The Masked Singer continues on Saturday night at 7pm on ITV1.