The Masked Singer, ITV’s most surreal competition series, is back.
Joel Dommett is hosting, with judges Davina McCall, Rita Ora, Jonathan Ross and Mo Gilligan doing their best detective work to guess which celebrities are behind the weird and wonderful outfits.
This year’s contestants are hoping to join the previous Masked Singer UK winners, which include Nicola Roberts, Joss Stone, Natalie Imbruglia and Charlie Simpson.
One of the hopefuls is in disguise as Cricket – here’s what we know about them so far…
In an ITV press pack released ahead of the series, Cricket said: “I like the fun content of The Masked Singer, I could be creative!”
In week one of the singing show, some of the judges weren’t convinced by Cricket’s act, as he walked on stage holding his back and walking slowly, indicating that he may be an older contestant.
Gilligan guessed that Cricket could be Jamaican musician and TV personality Levi Roots, while McCall thought that Cricket was pretending to be older, and guessed it might be Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades.
Ross thought that because a scoreboard in the pre-recorded segment showed the number 60, it could be indicating the celebrities’ age. Therefore, Ross guessed it was cricket player and former England captain David Gower, who is 66.
Charlie Simpson, who was a guest judge on the first episode of the new series after winning the competition last year, guessed it was English cricket player Stuart Broad because he is 6 ft 6 tall and a similar height to Cricket.
Last year, Charlie Simpson was crowned as the winner of The Masked Singer UK.
During his second performance on Saturday (13 January), Cricket performed their version of SNAP!’s 1992 song “Rhythm is a Dancer” to raucuous applause from the judges and crowd.
Mo Gilligan, Olly Murs (who was judging in Rita Ora’s absence), and Jonathan Ross all agreed that Cricket is musician and Fame Academy star Lemar.
Fans agreed, pointing out that not only did the vocals match up but the cricket background of Cricket’s video package could be hinting at Lemar Cricket Club in Frankfurt.
Elsewhere in the earlier clues, Cricket appeared to put on a fake posh accent and kept using the word jolly.
Davina McCall, however, warned her colleagues not to jump to conclusions, explaining The Masked Singer often pulls tricks on viewers.
Charlie Simpson, who performed secretly as Rhino throughout the competition, rose to fame with the boyband behind the hits “Year 3000” and “Crashed The Wedding”.
In the finale, he beat Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson, who was disguised as Phoenix.
The Masked Singer airs on ITV on Saturday nights, with the final expected to take place in February.
