The Masked Singer host Joel Dommett has shared that producers stop filming before unmaskings for celebrity make-up touch-ups and he sometimes needs names whispered in his ear
The Masked Singer host Joel Dommett has revealed a behind-the-scenes secret(Image: ITV)
The Masked Singer presenter Joel Dommett has lifted the lid on a behind-the-scenes secret, disclosing that ITV bosses press pause on filming right before each big reveal.
The 40-year-old telly host spilled the beans about why producers must interrupt recording moments before the unmasking during his appearance on the Please Keep Me Anonymous podcast with Chris and Rosie Ramsey. Whilst Joel himself remains clueless about who’s hiding beneath the elaborate costumes, he’s let slip the backstage trick, saying: “We actually have a stop of the record.
“So they go ‘take it off, take it off, take it off’, and then we stop the record just before they’re about to take it off and they get their make-up done and things like that. And then we go back and then we go ‘take it off, take it off’, and I go ‘Oh my god it’s this person!'”
READ MORE: Masked Singer fans ‘figure out’ Conkers is Coronation Street star as ITV hit returns
Conkers on the ITV show(Image: ITV)
Joel also confessed there had been “100%” occasions when the famous face emerged, and he hadn’t got a clue who they were, reports Birmingham Live. He admitted that The Masked Singer crew will quietly whisper the celebrity’s name into his ear if he’s left scratching his head.
He recalled it happening during series one, explaining: “There was guy who was a politician and everyone was like ‘take it off, take it off, take it off’, and the producer says in my ear ‘It’s Alan Johnson.’
“And I go ‘Oh my god it’s Alan Johnson’, and in my head I’m like ‘Who th f*** is this?'” Former UK Home Secretary Alan Johnson was unmasked as the Pharaoh during the debut series of The Masked Singer UK back in January 2020.
Joel is happily married to model Hannah, and they are parents to a two-year-old son named Wilde. Hannah is currently six months pregnant with their second child.
The show’s seventh series is now airing(Image: ITV)
The TV host also shared that his son Wilde is “obsessed” with the Masked Singer, which led to an “embarrassing” incident during a trip to a shopping centre. While Joel found it “really cool” that the toddler would wake up and insist on watching the ITV show, he confessed to trying to hush Wilde when he began loudly chanting “take it off, take it off” during their shopping excursion.
The current series of The Masked Singer UK is Series 7, which started airing on ITV and ITVX in early January 2026. Famous faces like The One Show host Alex Jones and rapper Professor Green have already been revealed.
Meanwhile, fans believe they have figured who Conkers is, with several people on social media convinced Coronation Star Sam Aston, who has portrayed Chesney Brown on the ITV soap opera since 2003, is behind the character. The 32-year-old actor was first introduced to Corrie when he was 10 years old – and now, viewers think he might be Conkers, who wears a Knight attire on The Masked Singer.
“I think Conkers is Sam Aston, who plays Chesney Winter-Brown in #Corrie,” a fan wrote on X. Another said: “Conker – Sam Aston.” One more added: “My guess Sam Aston.”
Meanwhile, other people think the clues point towards Richard Fleeshman, who played Craig Harris on Corrie from 2002 to 2006. Someone else suggested a different Corrie star – Lee Dennis – could be behind the character.