The Masked Singer’s Mo Gilligan has revealed the lengths taken to keep the show’s stars a secret.
Back for its second series on Saturday nights, The Masked Singer sees famous faces competing in a singing competition while keeping their identity hidden behind elaborate costumes.
Mo joined the judging panel for series two, sitting alongside Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall and Rita Ora.
Speaking about the intense secrecy around the identity of this year’s The Masked Singer performers, Mo shared this week: “You don’t see. You see that show, when you watch it on the show, the T shirts ‘Don’t talk to me’ – that’s real.
“The set is huge. I got in the car, the driver was instructed he can’t talk to me. I cannot talk to you, I’m not allowed. There’s a gate. There’s another gate with huge security guards. This happened every single day.”
He added: “You don’t see anyone, you go straight into your dressing room, it’s so secretive. It’s a fun show, it’s a really good family game.”
Mo was speaking to Alison Hammond on brand new podcast My Life in TV where he also revealed his career path came about by accident, having initially aspired to be a football player.
He explained: “When I was at secondary school, I wanted to be a footballer. That was just the plan. I was playing football. One of my teachers, Miss Simpson said to me, ‘You’re very talented. Maybe you should look at doing performing arts.’ That’s how I fell into this industry.”
As well as his successful comedy career and role on The Masked Singer, Mo discussed his ambitions to make a travel documentary.
He said: “I’d love to do a travel programme. Once I started getting into the world of TV and comedy, and started earning a bit of money, I started travelling. I’ve got a lot of friends where I grew up, no one ever went on holiday when I was young. We might go Wales on a camping holiday.
“Most definitely a travel programme. Somewhere in America, explore the south, New Orleans. Travel and food, I’m all here for it.”
Meanwhile, elaborating on the pressures around being a performer, Mo confessed he almost quit comedy after a particularly disastrous gig: “I’ve died on stage. I remember doing a show in Nottingham, it was a small show, 15 people there, sometimes it can be the funniest show. I get on stage, tell the first joke, no one laughs.
“Tell the second joke, no one is laughing. Silence, silence. Woah, I’ve got the joke – I’ve told the technician the cue. Silence. He’s played the wrong song. He’s playing it but he keeps pressing the button. There’s a stop button on the iPad but he keeps pressing the same button. No one is even laughing.
“I remember coming off stage, I am fuming. I text my manager, ‘I think I’m going to quit comedy, I don’t think this is for me anymore’. All the comics going up after me are getting laughs. That was very stressful.”
My Life In TV is free to download from Global Player, Spotify, Acast, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Player FM, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Picture: ITV
