IAN HYLAND

On the weekend’s telly The Masked Singer, ITV

Over at the new series of The Masked Singer, a rash of boxing-themed clues seemed to be suggesting the first contestant had links to fighting.

And yet none of the judges even mentioned Cheryl née Tweedy. NB. I refer there, of course, to Cheryl’s massive No.1 hit Fight For This Love.

It wasn’t because Cheryl is too famous either. New judge Mo Gilligan’s first guess was actually Grammy Award-winning, multiplatinum artist Bruno Mars. Hmm. Bruno Tonioli would be pushing it, Mo. I’d stick to the Bruno Brookes end of the market if I were you.

Mo was a welcome addition though. Mainly because his presence was confirmation that shouty Ken Jeong would not be joining us this time around.

It was also great to see Rita Ora back, despite her recent well-publicised bouts of Covidiocy.

Yeah, right. As if ITV was ever going to punish her. The publicists probably couldn’t believe their luck.

In fact, Rita was joined on the network in Christmas primetime by two other high-profile flouters: Kay Burley on The Chase and Piers Morgan on Millionaire.

Honestly, I was half-expecting Dominic Cummings to pop up after the news with a Storm Bella warning. (“Driving rain is affecting visibility in the Barnard Castle area.”)

As for The Masked Singer, it’s still far too long and far too padded out - unmasking remains the only good bit. But in the interests of joining in, I’m going to guess that one of the mystery contestants is Bradley Walsh.

Well, he’s been on every other TV show lately.