The Masked Singer: Jason Manford unmasked as the Hedgehog
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Dad-of-six Jason Manford, 39, has revealed one of his daughters “wasn’t happy” with his “secretive” antics when he appeared as Hedgehog on The Masked Singer UK in 2020. The comedian and actor reached the ITV show’s final at the time, but his daughter was more concerned that she had denied her dad was taking part to inquisitive friends at school.
Jason made the admission in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk when he was quizzed on the downsides that came with keeping his stint on the programme a secret.
He explained in response: “Not for me necessarily, because I enjoyed the fun of it.
“But my daughter wasn’t happy when she found out I was on The Masked Singer because everyone at school was saying, ‘That’s your dad’, and she was saying, ‘I think I would know!’”
“I loved it, it was great, a really fun experience.
“Very different, the team are great fun, and the whole secretive thing was nuts, but it was a lot of fun,” the star added, despite the youngster’s frustrations.
Jason went on to share that it was difficult for him to keep the secret that he was Hedgehog before he made it to the grand finale.
He divulged: “It was hard, my wife knew because otherwise she would wonder why I was sneaking off every night.
“But other than that, it was just me who knew.”
Jason has four children – twin girls, a daughter and a son – with his ex Catherine.
He has been married to second wife Lucy Dyke since December 2017 and they share two children together.
Jason also shared that it wasn’t just his family who he struggled to keep his news hidden from.
The comic revealed he received a grovelling apology from tenor Alfie Boe, 47, after he inadvertently insulted his singing voice after tuning into The Masked Singer.
Recalling the awkward moment, Jason said: “I had a moment where I was on the phone to Alfie Boe and I sort of brought it up and said, ‘Have you been watching this Masked Singer?’”
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Alfie then informed Jason that some viewers had been wondering if he was Hedgehog, but that he felt insulted by the suggestion, as he thought Hedgehog’s singing voice was “rubbish”.
The star continued: “And he said, ‘Yeah people keep messaging me on a Saturday night and asking me if it’s me, so I watched it the other day and I thought, I’m not that rubbish at singing am I?’
“I sort of had to pretend and say, ‘Oh yeah, yeah, no’ and keep it a secret.”
Following Alfie’s brutal remark, Jason was unveiled to be the star voicing Hedgehog.
The star admitted that after the reveal took place on-air, he got another call from Alfie to say sorry.
Jason added: “But after it got revealed that it was me, he rang me up like, ‘I think I’ve got an apology to make.’”
The funnyman went on to reveal that despite his experience performing in West End musicals, he would feel nervous at the prospect of signing up to Strictly Come Dancing.
He explained: “You’d think the [West End experience would help].
“But it’s very different learning two bits of choreography for a musical that you then perform 300 times to learning a brand new dance in front of 10 million people every week.
“I’d do it to lose weight,” the television personality quipped.
Jason Manford is appearing on Saturday Kitchen Live this morning at 10am on BBC One.
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