Denise van Outen says she batted off questions about whether she was one of the acts on The Masked Singer by telling friends and family she had been in Australia at the time.
Last weekend the presenter was revealed as Fox in the ITV singing contest — where celebrities perform while concealed behind elaborate costumes.
Singers Jake Shears, Kelis and CeeLo Green, plus politician Alan Johnson, are among the other contestants to have been unmasked.
Ahead of the final this weekend, Van Outen, 45, revealed she told anyone who asked that she had been in Australia working on Neighbours when The Masked Singer was filmed, having played Prue Wallace, mother of Harlow Robinson, on the soap last year.
She told the Evening Standard: “My friends were saying: ‘It is definitely you, I know your voice.’ But I wasn’t admitting to anything. I told them: ‘I was away last summer in Australia.
"When do you think I would have filmed it?’ They don’t know when it is filmed. I had people begging me: ‘Please tell me, put me out of my misery.’
“I was avoiding my phone on a Saturday night and getting back to people days later. I was saying: ‘Sorry, I didn’t have phone signal.’ I was just lying.”
The Masked Singer
The presenter, who shot to fame in the Nineties as host of The Big Breakfast, said she knew the show would be a success as she was “hooked” on it while in Australia. She added: “Aussies are very similar to us, in terms of humour, and it totally took off.” The hedgehog, Queen Bee and Octopus are left in the final.
Van Outen, who has starred in West End shows Chicago, Legally Blonde and Rent, said the Masked Singer inspired her to perform again.
“I realised that I really missed singing,” she said. “Doing the Masked Singer was such a brilliant experience. I loved it.”
Van Outen, who has starred in West End shows, will compere a new series of cabaret nights at Proud London, launching next month. She will be hosting Proud’s new Vegas-style show Cabaret All Stars, which she has curated.
