What can viewers expect from series two?
It looks amazing. The costumes are, I think, even better than ever. The characters are wonderful. They’ll be characters that the kids fall in love with and some really cool characters that I think the grown ups will love. The people under the masks are even more impressive and harder to guess.
And why do you think this series has won the heart of the nation?
I think people love Masked Singer and Masked Dancer because there’s so much fun and there’s no meanness onstage, there’s nothing really at stake. The problem with a lot of big talent shows, even though I love them, is even though you want to see people win, when you see people who don’t win you can sometimes feel a bit sad. So it’s bittersweet. On this show the people involved are already successful and come along because they want to have fun and they want us to have fun watching. I think it’s just a kind of win, win.
You came out on top in The Masked Singer with your guesses, how well have you been doing on The Masked Dancer?
You know what, there are some real surprises. There is one person at least who, when they get unmasked they were such a surprise because you’d have thought that they would have picked The Masked Singer but they did it deliberately because they knew that we’d all think that. They had the panel stumped and none of us guessed them.
Do you think it’s harder to guess the celebrities on The Masked Dancers than Masked Singer?
Well, it is and it isn’t. I mean, it is in that you don’t have a kind of actual example of what they do or what is kind of natural to them but in some ways, I think it’s got easier as we know to pay so much more attention to the clues. You do have to learn how to ignore some of the clues, because some are designed to take you in the wrong direction. There is one person who I think I’ve guessed, not because I know how they dance particularly, but I know how they move. There’s something quite distinctive about their movement. So I think in some ways it’s easier, but at the same time overall, both the shows are hard. I’m kind of glad about that. If it were too easy, it wouldn’t be fun.
Did you think you’ve got an advantage because you know and have interviewed every person on the planet?
No I don’t have an advantage because I may have met everyone but bear in mind I’m older than everyone else on the panel so I’ve forgotten almost everyone I’ve ever met!
How is it having Peter Crouch stepping in for Mo?
It’s great. I mean, we love Mo and can’t wait for him to return to the panel, but Pete has been great. So much fun. The audience loved him. He’s having a great time. He’s so lovely to work with and he’s very funny. We do make him do the robot (Pete’s signature dance move) a lot. So he’s doing a lot of dancing. He’s throwing more moves than the rest of us.
Can you tell us a bit about the characters? You mentioned earlier that they are bigger and better.
There are some really lovely costumes that catch the eye. Sea Slug, I know when you say Sea Slug you don’t think it’s going to be very pretty, but Sea Slug is very glamorous, very sexy and very sophisticated. I think viewers will love Sea Slug. Scissors is amazing. They have an amazing physique and an amazing physicality about them and the costume is really slinky and fun. One of my favourites this year is Pig. Pig is such a sweet, lovely costume. There is such a lovely energy about the way Pig dances. Tomato Sauce is cute and flirty and has got a little twirly skirt on and throws a few signature moves. There’s so many great characters. Astronaut is the one I think probably had the hardest costume to dance with, because it’s like a big thick Astronaut suit, but they did a great job as well.
Do you think you’re better at deciphering the clues in this series?
The problem with the clues is once you think you’ve got an idea, if the clues half fit that idea then you talk yourself into guessing the wrong person with even greater enthusiasm. A lot of the clues are deliberately designed to work for a number of people so they are not so specifically spot on that it can only be one person. Normally there are different ways of interrupting clues. On the one hand, yes I think I have been better and on the other hand it’s not always helped me.
Without giving anything away, are there any standout moments you can tease?
There’s someone about to be unmasked who I think I’ve got correct and I think someone on the panel should definitely have guessed them but they haven’t. Like on The Masked Singer earlier this year, Rita Ora failed to guess Jamie Winstone who is a really close friend. So I like it when that kind of thing happens, it will be a fun moment for the audience.
When you leave the studio do you find yourself having a lightbulb moment with names of potential celebs popping into your head?
A little bit because you mull over the information you’ve got. So if for example the clues seem to point to someone who was in the charts at the same time as someone else, you’ll be racking your brains thinking what other music was I listening to then? Is that person still relevant? Then they get unmasked and you find out none of that counted for anything. So you’ve wasted a lot of time. You do find yourself thinking about it afterwards and trying to run through the clues again and see if they can fit in a different direction.
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