The Masked Singer in chaos as star refuses to wear costume hours before show

20 January 2024 , 16:22

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ITV The Masked Singer in chaos as star refuses to wear costume just hours before show kicks off

The Masked Singer's costume designer, Tim Simpson, has revealed that one this season's celebrities refused to wear their costume, just hours before they appeared on the ITV competition.

The show has featured Air Fryer, Piranha and Bigfoot, among others so far and it was the singer who was introduced to the audience as Weather that caused some consternation backstage when they refused to put on the mask which would conceal their identity.

As it turned out, Weather was the first contestant to eliminated from the competition, with it being revealed that it was legendary singer Dionne Warwick, who is now 83 and describing her experience on the show as "great fun". Tim described the drama backstage ahead of the music icon's performance, where she gave a rendition of Johnny Nash’s I Can See Clearly Now.

The Masked Singer's Weather refused to wear the costume ahead of filming

Speaking to Metro, Tim said: "We had a rather dramatic moment where Weather, Dionne Warwick, came on and she tried her mask on and she just took it off and said, 'I’m not wearing that', because we have a particular type of head cradle inside the mask. We had about four and a half hours before she was due on stage, and she had point blank refused to wear it as it stood."

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There were urgent alterations made to the mask while in Dionne's dressing room which left show producers in a cold sweat with the mask being pulled apart. Tim recalled: "I had to rip out the head cradle, at which point she looked at me and went, 'Okay, now we’re in business,' as the producers looked on just with horror, like sheer horror, as I’m tearing apart this mask that we’ve spent so many weeks working on."

Dionne Warwick was the first to be eliminated from The Masked Singer

After explaining to Dionne about the quick-fix alterations which had been made, the singer said: "I don’t think it’s gonna fit, but this is the best I’ve got right now. It’ll be fine." Fortunately for all involved, the mask fitted a treat and Dionne announced: "That’s great. Let’s crack on."

Tim said about the situation which happened in the build up to Dionne's performance: "They’ve got to go out and sing and they’ve got to perform and so they’ve got to be feeling all right about it and she just didn’t feel comfy in it. It didn’t fit her head and it needed a rethink very, very fast."

Metro reported that a representative for Dionne said in response that "she always puts perfection into all the work she does". Dionne enjoyed her time on her show but said she was never going to be anything apart from herself. She said after being eliminated: "When I was asked to do the show, I said, 'Aw yeah, I’m going to have some fun. But I can never try to disguise my voice.'"

James Brinsford