My masked ball!

Host Joel Dommett on the return of the nation’s favourite musical guessing game

- STEVEN PERKINS

THE MASKED SINGER

NEW NEW YEAR’S DAY & SUNDAY / ITV / TIMES VARY / EPS 1-2 of 8 / ENTERTAINMENT

Fire up Google and grab your notebook – Britain’s favorite guessing game is back!

Last series, millions watched agog as Sir Lenny Henry, A-ha’s Morten Harket, and winner Joss Stone (AKA Sausage) were among the stars revealed to be behind the masks on ITV mega-hit The Masked Singer.

This weekend, the 2022 series begins with 12 more characters – Chandelier, Rockhopper, Panda, Doughnuts, Snow Leopard, Traffic Cone, Robobunny, Bagpipes, Mushroom, Firework, Lionfish and Poodle – set to take to the stage.

Once again, Davina McCall, Jonathan Ross, Rita Ora and odle Mo Gilligan will be the panellists sifting through the clues and trying to guess the secret identities of the singers, and pun-tastic Joel Dommett returns as host.

TV Times caught up with Joel, 36, for a video call during a break in filming to find out more…

What can we expect from series three, Joel? Are there any changes to the format?

There is a slight tweak, in that we have a couple of shows that have themes – we haven’t done that before.

For me, it’s really good because it made it easier and more fun to write for – you could do specific intros for that theme. I can’t tell you what the themes are, though!