Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Queen Bee Nicks it
Girls Aloud’s Nicola takes crown in first-ever Masked Singer final
NICOLA Roberts was crowned the Queen Bee — and revealed to be the winner of The Masked Singer last night.
The Girls Aloud favourite triumphed in the ITV show, which was watched by seven million viewers, with her performance of Jocelyn Brown’s Somebody Else’s Guy.
“I loved it,” she said. “It’s piping hot in there!”
Judge Davina McCall heaped praise on her, saying: “You are amazing. Your singing has been jaw-dropping.” Rita Ora agreed: “This has shown your vocals.”
Nicola, 34, said: “The last time I sung like this was on Popstars The
Rivals.” She pipped Jason Manford to the post – and he was then unmasked as Hedgehog.
All four judges guessed that the Queen Bee was a different member of Girls Aloud, but only Rita correctly picked Nicola.
Comedian Jason, 38, who sang Black Magic by Little Mix, said: “I have loved this show. It’s been fabulous. I have actually managed to keep it a secret from my children. They have just found out at the same time as you that Daddy is doing the show.”
Octopus was revealed as opera singer Katherine Jenkins, 39. She performed Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins.
Earlier in the series Butterfly was unmasked as actress Patsy Palmer, Pharoah was former Home Secretary
Alan Johnson and Chameleon was The
Darkness singer Justin Hawkins. Footballer Teddy Sheringham was the Tree. Singers Kelis, Skin and Jake Shears were Daisy, Duck and Unicorn. Presenter Denise Van Outen was Fox, while Monster was CeeLo Green.
The Masked Singer will be back for a second series after ITV secured a deal with production company Bandicoot.
They want to keep all four of the judges – Davina, 52, Rita, 29, Ken Jeong, 50, and Jonathan Ross, 59 – as well as host Joel Dommett, 34.