The Masked Singer bosses have revealed the show’s elaborate costumes proved difficult for one celebrity in particular.
ITV’s new star-studded singing competition, which airs on Saturday nights, sees a number of famous faces competing while hiding their identities from viewers in over-the-top outfits.
And in a new interview with The Sun, executive producers Derek McLean and Daniel Nettleton revealed that the celeb performing as Queen Bee suffers from “crippling claustrophobia”, which was triggered when she first tried her outfit on.
They also revealed that, inspired by the character costumes at Disneyland, they imposed limits on how long the stars were allowed to wear their costumes for.
“The stars were only allowed in their costumes for 20 minutes,” Derek said. “We took inspiration from Disney. That’s how long Minnie and Mickey Mouse can be in their costumes before going doolally.”
He added that the team had to be “quite strict” about their 20-minute rule, noting: “You don’t want celebrities in costumes going crazy all over the place.”
Although the identities of the remaining eight celebrities are being kept tightly under wraps, fans do have their own theories, with many speculating that Queen Bee is actually former Girls Aloud singer Nicola Roberts.
Queen Bee previously spoke about being an activist and “law-maker”, which many interpreted as a reference to Nicola having campaigned for sunbeds to be made illegal for under-16s, while the character was also seen carrying a drum, a potential nod to the singer’s solo track Beat Of My Drum.
So far, four celebrities have been unmasked, the latest of which was revealed to be footballer Teddy Sherringham in this week’s episode.