Jason Manford unveiled as The Masked Singer's 'Hedgehog'
He made it to the final of The Masked Singer show
Last updated 17th Feb 2020
After weeks of guesses and viewers being kept in the dark, the final of ITV's The Masked Singer took place on Saturday 15th February, where it was revealed that Absolute Radio's very own Jason Manford was singing under the guise of Hedgehog.
The show, saw various celebrities including the likes of Skin from Skunk Anansie, and Justin Hawkins of The Darkness, performing live, in hugely elaborate animal stage costumes, before an audience and panel of judges.
The morning after the big reveal, Jason rang Absolute Radio and spoke to Matt Forde and Zoe Lyons, who were covering Jason's usual 8-11am show as he goes on his holidays. Jason explained the measures he took to keep his identity as the Hedgehog a secret, which were, it's fair to say, pretty drastic.
Speaking on the phone about keeping shtum, Jason said, "I had to, legally. You sign NDAs and stuff. I didn't even tell my kids… I've not told anybody. It was like MI5 stuff. I recorded it last September while I was in rehearsing for 'Curtains', the show I'm on tour with at the moment.
"They would pick us up, drive us to this hangar in the middle of, I don't even know where it was, about an hour away from London."
Jason added, "Then about 20 minutes out of the studio, you had to put on a hoodie that said 'Don't speak to me' on the front – which I've kept and I'm having for the train – you had to wear a balaclava, gloves, a visor and then when you got there, nobody spoke to you.
Jason, modelling his fancy new hoodie...
Elaborating on the all-pervading secrecy Jason said, "There were about four people in the whole production who actually knew who you were… I didn't even know who else were the other contestants.”
You can listen to the full chat with Jason Manford here.
You can listen to The Jason Manford Show every Sunday on Absolute Radio from 8am.