HIDDEN TREASURE
As she joins The Masked Singer judging panel, Spice Girl Mel B tells Siobhan Duck she’s done her homework on local talent
WHEN it comes to guessing which celebrity is hiding behind each get-up, Melanie “Mel B” Brown reckons she has an edge over the rest of The Masked Singer Australia panel. Not only has the Spice Girl well and truly done the rounds of Aussie talent shows – she was a judge on Australia’s Got Talent and The X Factor Australia, plus a co-host on Dancing With The Stars – she also knows what it’s like to perform underneath one of those elaborate costumes.
In 2021, she was unmasked as “Seahorse” in the UK version of the show before going incognito as “Medusa” in Spain. Because of these experiences, Brown says with much relish, “I can recognise singing voices and can tell if they are trying to hide it, too, because that is exactly what I did when I did The Masked Singer as the seahorse.”
The only Spice Girl to have been a contestant on the series so far, Brown jokes that if any of her former bandmates were to appear in disguise this season in Australia, the easiest one to recognise would be Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice, “because I’d be able to tell those dulcet tones a mile off,” she says before cackling with laughter.
Unlike US actress Lindsay Lohan, who struggled during her first and only season due to her obvious lack of familiarity with Australian celebrities, Brown has spent many years rubbing shoulders with local actors, musicians and reality stars. Even so, she’s done her research.
“Well, I have my dossier because I have met so many Australian people and Australian icons,” she explains. “I had to brush up on my knowledge as to remember if they’re actually still living, still current, [or] they haven’t done anything bad or abusive to anybody else because I am not going to mention those people.”
Her fellow judge, comedian Dave Hughes – who is the only member of the original 2019 panel remaining – certainly doesn’t have the same qualms, proudly boasting, “I mainly guess dead people!” Across three seasons, Hughes has gained a reputation for outlandish and improbable guesses, throwing out names like former PM Julia Gillard and LaToya Jackson.
That’s probably why Brown and his other new co-stars, Abbie Chatfield and Chrissie Swan, have avoided following any of his advice. “He has passed on many tips,” radio host and TV personality Swan says with a laugh. “And we have taken on board not one of them.”
A fan of the show who has watched every season with her three kids, Swan concedes, “I think it’s much easier at home. The voices sound different on telly than they do in the studio, and often I am just enjoying the live vibe so much that I often forget I have a job to do.”
Host Osher Günsberg says Swan has always been the best amateur player of the game but was understandably finding it trickier now that she’s in the studio being “sung to by a 2m-tall thong with a permanent smile on its face”.
Günsberg says he has occasionally been able to guess the masked celebrity after being close to them on stage, but for the most part, his strike rate is about on par with Hughes.
Chatfield says most of the fun is in the anticipation. The 27-year-old social media personality, who got her TV start on The Bachelor in 2019, concedes she often marvels at how far she has come in such a short space of time.
“I’m so lucky to have had the opportunities that I have had,” Chatfield says. “And I don’t think I would have believed you if you told me a year ago [that] I would be sat next to a Spice Girl, Hughesy and the incredible Chrissie Swan for work every day.”
THE MASKED SINGER
7.30PM, SUNDAY, NETWORK 10