Gloria Hunniford looks unrecognisable backstage on the Masked Singer - wearing the outfit she was smuggled onto the show in.
The TV favourite is seen in her dressing room in black trousers, black shoes, black gloves and a black balaclava with a hood and visor.
“To tell you the truth that the balaclava was the worst part of it,” Gloria says. “Getting into the actual costume was a bit of a relief! I felt like a cat burglar. You just look ridiculous. But it was all worth it to be lucky enough to take part in such a wonderful show.”
Gloria wowed fans as Snow Leopard on the ITV show.
And she spoke of the “cloak and dagger” operation that saw each of the celebrities brought to the top-secret filming location.
“You are sent a kit and 15 minutes away from the studio you have to get into a sweatshirt that says: Don’t Talk to Me,” she explains.
“You can just about see as there is a slit on the visor, but no-one can see who you are.
"My inclination when I go into a building is, to say thank you so much to the doorman but you’re not allowed to even say that.”
Gloria praised staff on the show for the way they maintained the levels of secrecy.
“The way they have organised it is amazing. Honestly the times that I was in, I never saw another costume. I didn’t see anyone in costume. I only saw one person who was similarly in all the gear I was in.
"But from the outside, with only a slit in the visor, you can’t see in. I had no clue who the characters were or who they looked like until the show transmitted.”
Gloria says she was given a top-secret code name to confuse matters even more.
“Even when you are doing a bit of vocal rehearsal, my pseudonym was Sugar,” she says. “It was like: Sugar has to be picked up at such and such a time.”
Gloria was talking as a new documentary about her life is to be aired on Easter Monday.
Called Gloria: My Life On TV, it looks back at her extraordinary career spanning more than half a century.
Sir Cliff Richard, Ruth Langsford and Christine Lampard are among the stars to pay tribute to Gloria, describing her as a trailblazer for women in broadcasting.
In 1982, Gloria was the first woman to have her own radio show on BBC Radio 2, which she presented for thirteen years.
She was also one of the first women on British television to have her own chat show, Sunday Sunday with Gloria Hunniford .
She says: “I was pleasantly surprised and flattered when Ruth and Christine say I was a trailblazer because I never saw myself as that. I watched the documentary and I was flattered and surprised they said things like that.”
Having celebrated her 80th birthday in 2020, Gloria continues to present shows such as Loose Women and Rip off Britain, with no intention of retiring.
“The three of us on Rip Off Britain have been going now for 14 years and have been commissioned until 2024,” Gloria says. “We have never been more relevant, due to the increase in costs of living and all the awful scams that are sadly so prevalent now”
She adds: “I have never had to look for a job thankfully. I am still working and will continue to work. I’m not really a powerhouse. If you like it and are keen to do it, you want to do it. I have always been lucky to have a natural zest."
Gloria: My Life on TV, BBC One, Monday 18th April, 1.30pm
