Viewers of The Masked Singer were left stunned as the identity of Rat was revealed on Saturday night (January 13).
The show saw Strictly judge Shirley Ballas unmasked during series five’s third episode. She landed herself in the bottom two alongside Dippy Egg, who the panel chose to save.
While fans of the guessing game are good at guessing the celebrities’ identities, they were left completely shocked as Shirley, 63, was completely off their radar.
Even the panel wasn’t able to guess Rat correctly. For their final guesses, they went with the likes of Jodie Comer, Claire Sweeney, Jodie Whittaker and Kerry Katona.
Masked Singer: Rat revealed
“SHIRLEY?!” panelist Johnathan Ross said while in shock. “How did we not get Shirley Ballas?”
While also speechless over the reveal, Davina McCall admitted she was thrown off by Shirley’s accents underneath the mask.
Opening up about the panel’s guesses, Shirley stated she was “flattered,” insisting that some of their guesses impressed her.
Shirley has tattoos ‘all over’ her bum
One of Shirley’s clues was linked to the tattoos on her backside. “It was bothering me,” Olly Murs said, “you’ve got tattoos?” “All over my backside,” Shirley replied.
Joel then asked her: “Please tell me you’ve got Anton Du Beke right there,” gesturing to his bum cheek.
Shirley gestured to Joel that she had inkings on her lower back and over her bum cheek, she said: “All over and all over and all over.”
While revealing that she got a boyfriend Danny’s name inked on her, Shirley joked: “I’m not sure that was a good idea.”
Joel then asked: “Do any of the other Strictly judges know?” Shirley, thinking he was still talking about the tattoos, said: “Of course, Bruno [Tonioli] used to make me show him.” “I’m not talking about the tattoos, I’m talking about being on the show,” Joel then confirmed. “But that’s a lovely bit of information.”
How viewers reacted to Shirley Ballas
While Shirley was unmasked viewers took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express how shocked they were.
“How did I not guess Rat was @ShirleyBallas!? One of my favourite people on TV! I actually thought the accent was someone doing a Shirley Ballas impression! The singing voice was so different. Well done Shirley – Rat was fantastic,” one user wrote.
“Shirley Ballas on masked singer I was not expecting that,” another person shared.
“Well I would have never guessed Shirley Ballas!” a third remarked.
“This is the most shook I’ve ever been at #maskedsingeruk I thought that was Mel Giedroyc 10000%,” a fourth fan shared.
During week one, iconic singer Dionne Warwick was revealed as Weather. The following week, Pointless host Alexander Armstrong was unmasked as Chicken Caeser.
Read more: Every single theory on The Masked Singer characters – from Big Foot and Maypole
The Masked Singer UK continues next Saturday (January 20) from 7pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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