MASK SINGER

DERMOT O'Leary says the judges quickly worked out he was behind Mistletoe on The Masked Singer: Christmas special - and believes his legs gave the game away.

- BY MARK JEFFERIES Showbiz Editor

The This Morning host won the competition after secretly taking vocal lessons, but judge Jonathan Ross clocked who was behind the mask early on.

Dermot, 52, said: "Everyone knew it was me. I think they said it was mainly because of my legs! Not my voice, my legs! I was like, why has Jonathan Ross been looking at my legs?

"Jonathan got me straight away. I guess I moved a lot and I have been known to dance a bit on previous shows so maybe that gave me away as I've just got the one dance!"

Host Joel Dommett even accidentally blurted out his name in front of the other judges Davina McCall, Maya Jama and Mo Gilligan after hearing Dermot laugh, in a show first.

Looking back Dermot recalled: "I laughed at something that Jonathan said and Joel went immediately, 'That's Dermot'.

"The whole thing felt quite giddy because it's a Christmas special, but I think by then, the cat was pretty much out of the bag to be fair.

"Everyone else had pretty much guessed me so I don't think Joel made that much of a boo-boo."

Asked about being officially unmasked as champion, Dermot said: "It felt good. But I think everyone knew it was me by that point.

"I was performing Fairytale of New York, which is a great song. I think the song probably won it for me, if I'm honest. I sang that and Last Christmas in the final.

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