The celebrity panel gasped over the first shock unveiling on The Masked Dancer. Twelve more celebrities have taken on colourful alter egos as they trip the light fantastic on the dancefloor as the zany ITV show returned to our screens after its successful first series last year.
After wannabe detectives tried to crack the case of who the famous faces behind the masks are, it was time for one star to be unmasked. Candlestick, Scissors, Astronaut, Odd Socks, Prawn Cocktail and Pillar and Post all danced for Peter Crouch, Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall and Oti Mabuse.
Former Strictly Come Dancing pro dancer Oti gasped and joked 'I'm dying' as her teen heartthrob was unmasked as the character Astronaut. After all the dancing was done Astronaut turned out to be American actor Jesse Metcalfe.
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Jesse, 43, is known for his portrayal as teen gardener John Rowland in the US comedy drama Desperate Housewives. "We've got women freaking out," enthused Davina. And Oti told her: "I'm freaking out."
She said: "This show goes to show it could be anyone." And while Jesse took to the stage again to dance to The Weeknd's Blinding Lights, Oti could be heard exclaiming: "He was my high school crush."
When asked why he decided to take part, Jesse said: “I thought it would be fun because dance is something that really intimidates me so it's a fear that I wanted to face. This has been unbelievable, it's one of the most zany things I’ve ever done in my career but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself.”
The star said there was 'something liberating' about being anonymous in the costume, but he was relieved to finally remove the mask because it was 'incredibly hot to dance in' and his 'visibility wasn’t great.'
Jesse says it was hard to keep his involvement in the show a secret. "It was so hard," he said. "I’m obviously based in the US, and I couldn’t tell friends why I was in the country, so lots of ignoring messages and being vague about what I was doing…and even some outright lying."
And he explained the effort that goes on behind-the-scenes to keep identities a secret. "The protocols on the stages were very strict. Annoyingly so, at times!" he explained.
"Had to be entirely covered at all times: mask, balaclava, hoodie, gloves. And you literally couldn’t speak to anyone on stage during rehearsals for fear of being identified by your voice. Not talking was quite hard for me!"
Last series viewers saw OIympic gymnast Louis Smith dance to victory dressed as Car Wash. The series also saw Radio DJ and presenter Zoe Ball unmasked as Llama, choreographer and TV judge Craig Revel Horwood as Knickerbocker Glory, Ice skating legend Christopher Dean as Beagle, Howard Donald as Zip and presenter Kelly Brook as Frog.
The Masked Dancer on ITV & the ITV Hub Saturdays at 6.30pm.
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