The Masked Singer judges were utterly shocked when the winner was revealed(Picture: ITV)
The Christmas episode of the popular and bonkers show The Masked Singer saw four celebrities belt out tunes while dressed in festive costumes.
After previous Masked Singer participants appeared on Britain Get Singing on Christmas Eve, viewers tuned in to see Sprout, Partridge (in a pear tree), Reindeer, and Decorations face off in the Christmas special.
X Factor icon Leona Lewis opened the show in a stunning dress before joining the panel – Jonathan Ross, Rita Ora, Davina McCall, and Mo Gilligan – to guess who was behind the masks.
Host Joel Dommett looked incredibly festive for the Bafta winning show, rocking a Santa hat as he welcomed the first competitors to the stage.
After beating his competitors to the crown, Partridge came out on top with the judges guessing everyone from Jamie Oliver to Alan Titchmarsh.
Taking off his mask, the bird was revealed to be none other than Ainsley Harriott to the shock of
Winner Partridge was revealed to be Ainsley Harriott (Picture: ITV)
Mo Gilligan couldn’t believe his eyes as Ainsley was unmasked (Picture: ITV)
Everyone was in utter shock (Picture: ITV)
‘I’ve never been so far off Joel,’ said Mo after exclaiming he guesses Ainsley every week.
‘You make a very good Partridge,’ joked Jonathan as Mo said he ‘loves Ainsley so much’ and it was the ‘best reveal ever.’
Fans were equally shocked at the familiar chef being unveiled as X user Sah tweeted: ‘It was actually Ainsley Harriot, what haha the dude is such a character and apparently a decent singer!’
‘Who knew Ainslet Harriot could sing though,’ said Mariann while Daniel Matthews added: ‘It’s Ainsley Harriott. The legend.’
Sprout was out first and revealed to be Blackadder’s Tony Robinson (Picture: ITV)
Reindeer was runner-up and turned out to be Carol Vorderman (Picture: ITV)
Tony had written and performed his own rap (Picture: ITV)
‘As if it was Ainsley Harriott! I was way off with Harry Judd,’ laughed Dean who had predicted the McFly icon hours before.
Partridge and Sprout had first battled it out with the vegetable losing out despite writing his own rap, thanks to the studio audience’s votes.
The festive veggie was then revealed as none other than Tony Robinson, hinting at the incredible line up behind the Christmas costumes.
Next up was Decorations facing off against Reindeer, with the latter surviving to sing again and the tinsel covered belter had to remove their mask.
Decorations was the legendary Julian Clary (Picture: ITV)
He belted out his song again to the joy of the audience (Picture: ITV)
Carol made a fantastic Reindeer(Picture: ITV)
The judges had been convinced it was comedian Alan Carr but to their shock icon of stage and screen Julian Clary was under the baubles.
In the final round Reindeer lost out to a yet to be unmasked Ainsley and as the judges had suggested it was Countdown icon Carol Vorderman.
After the show the maths whizz tweeted: ‘Such fun. Excuse the singing 🙏🏼 Loved being Reindeer. Thank you for loving Reindeer too ❤️🎄🧑🎄 HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.’
The Masked Singer returns in 2024 on ITV and can be streamed on ITVX.
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Mo called it the ‘best reveal ever’