There has been at least one plus point to lockdown – this year’s line-up on The Masked Singer improved as more celebrities were available for selection

If nobody else is going to mention it then I may as well – this year’s The Masked Singer is actually quite good. If, after that statement, this has still been allowed to make it to print, then let me explain. Every celebrity you can think of has been affected to some degree by the same lockdowns as we have. So that means there are a lot more out of work at the moment and that shows – as TMS has a better selection of celebs to choose from, meaning we end up with a better viewing experience. At least that’s my theory, and I’m sticking with it.

But there have been some serious contenders this series. Previous “unmaskings” revealed the likes of ex-spice Girl Mel B, Martine Mccutcheon, Sophie Ellis-bexter, Lenny Henry, former footballer Glen Hoddle, lead singer of A-HA Morten Harket, presenter Sue Perkins and 90s singer Gabrielle.

But of the three remaining, whoever is behind Badger is the only one that has me bamboozled, as sometimes they can sing

and sometimes they can’t. My predictions for tonight’s final are Badger in third, Robin (who I think is Aston from JLS) in second, and Sausage (maybe Sheridan Smith?) the winner.

Highlights so far have included Sausage’s rendition of Lizzo’s Good as Hell, which was incredible, and the fact that someone even decided to dress as a sausage makes it even better.

Another was Morten Harket singing one of his own A-HA songs completely undetected, and – perhaps my favourite of the series – the numerous times the audience booed Jonathan Ross’s ridiculous guesses or just booed him in general.

In fact, where they may have got some of the singers on the stage right, they’ve definitely got the judges wrong.

Jonathan’s knowledge of the countless celebrities he has interviewed only seems to prove useful once they’ve taken their mask off and he suddenly spouts all these facts about how it was obvious it was that celeb.

Rita Ora, the only singer on the panel, has lost all credibility with her Covid rulebreaking and I don’t think anyone is paying her much attention anymore. Hopefully the guest judges they have brought in each week are a test run for the producers to find someone else to replace her next year.

With Davina Mccall and Mo Gilligan, we at least get legitimate guesses and good attempts at piecing the clues together.

Another programme I watched and enjoyed recently, part of a series on STV, is The Chasers Road Trip. At time of writing, I had seen last week’s episode – the one in which three of the Chasers from gameshow The Chase travelled to Japan to find out more about artificial intelligence.

Chasers trio Anne, Shaun and Mark were hilariously refreshing and I found the programme much more entertaining than their gameshow.

All episodes from both shows can be caught up with on the STV player.

Mark from The Chase put his skills to the test against a robot.

Contestants on this year’s The Masked Singer show.