The Masked Singer: Interview Jonathan Ross on Getting the Gang Back Together

The Masked Singer is back on ITV1 on Saturday Nights and so is Jonathan Ross, here he talks why it’s good to be back and how he gives the singers a run for their money in the style stakes.

What’s it like being back with the gang?
It’s nice being back with the gang, they’re such a lovely bunch to work with. They are good fun and it gives us all an excuse to dress up and go out for the day if nothing else! So it is nice to hook up with all of them. See them all.

What makes you keep coming back to the show?
I mean, it is just a fun environment to be in. I’ll tell you what I really like about it, and I know Davina feels the same way, is to be doing something when you look out at the audience and you see it’s mums, dads, grannies and grandpas with their kids. To see the little children on the night, they get so into it and they’re so excited and they give us so much energy and they’re up on their feet dancing and they’re cheering for their favourite. It’s fun to be part of something which is a real all ages show, and you know how much fun people have watching it.

How would you rate the standard this year?
I think they’ve all been good. We’ve had good names in every show. Sometimes it’s a good name because it’s someone you really wouldn’t expect to do it and they win the crowd over. I still think very fondly of Michael Owen as Donuts, and then when we’ve had people like Charlotte Church and Joss Stone, real kind of world class singers with huge careers, and Katherine Jenkins who can really sing.

We’ve got our first duo on Masked Singer this year. What’s that like?
So it makes it a bit harder to guess because the clues could be about one of them or both of them, you know what I mean? So it’s harder in many ways but it’s a lot more fun to watch because you try and pick up from them what is their relationship? Are they people who are together off screen? Are they people who work together? So it feels like a different element and it means that they can do different things on stage together as well. So you have a different kind of comic dynamic going on there.

Have you had any big shock unmaskings?
I mean, in a way, unless we’ve got them right, they’re all a bit of a shock. It’s always a shock when you are convinced you’ve got someone right and they’re unmasked and it’s not them! I suspect we’ll see a couple of those this series as well where the voice sounds right for you and all of the clues seem to point in the right direction, and it’s only when the mask comes off you realise that all those clues and that voice worked better for the person it really is, than the person you’d convinced yourself it is. And we all do a bit of that.

Are you giving them all a run for their money this year in the style stakes?
This is why I’m a natural fit for the Masked Singer. I dress like the characters do on stage, in my real life. I mean, I find the real world very disappointing. I was saying to someone earlier, I want to leave the studio and actually find talking pigeons. I’d like to bump into a phoenix, and maybe the rubbish bin could talk back to me. I would like the world to be more like the Masked Singer actually is. I think I present that in my daily dress sense.

Have you been stealing ideas from each other?
We’re a fairly law abiding bunch. Most people do actually stay with their own concepts and once you make it work for yourself, you feel happy. I’m very happy to throw in names that are very silly sometimes just to confuse people!

You always bring your A game with your dressing room backstage, is there anything new in there this year?
I mixed it up to keep myself happy, because it’s not a particularly salubrious place to spend time, it’s sort of in a portacabin, really. Not that I’m complaining. But I do like to make myself comfortable, especially because we spend quite a lot of time in between getting here in the morning and briefing. So this time I bought in a different record player with different speakers. These are ceramic ones that look like vases. I brought in a black lounge chair from home. I brought in an old magazine rack full of paperbacks that are mainly detective novels. None of which I’m going to read, but I like looking at the covers. I brought in a small screen and an Xbox to keep myself from getting bored.

The Masked Singer airs Saturday nights at 6.30pm on ITV.