The Masked Dancer’s Kimberley Walsh reveals brutal fitness regime to get fit for show
THE MASKED Dancer’s Odd Socks might have been a silly costume, but Kimberley Walsh took it very seriously.
The Girls Aloud star, who was unmasked on Saturday, has revealed that she took up a brutal fitness regime so she was tough enough to wear the huge get-up on the ITV guessing game.
Kimberley said: “I was training with a weighted vest on to try and get used to the weight.
“And I was wearing an oxygen mask and stuff.
“So by the time I left I was able to do like two or three run-throughs in the massive camera rehearsals.
“When I first started rehearsing I could barely get to the end of the routine, even without a costume on.
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“But I think the weight I lost I just replaced with fuel because it just took so much energy!”
Costumes on The Masked Dancer and its sister show, Masked Singer, comprise of a huge mask built on a cage plus a heavy bodysuit.
And it made throwing shapes tough.
Kimberley added: “It was really, really heavy. Like, really heavy.
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“Certain moves, we’d sort of choreograph it in the room without the costume on and then when you try it, it’s just not possible, so you just have to literally change it on the day of the show.
“There was like a breakdancing move, in Montel Jordan and Tricky, to get down on the floor and spin round and the mask just like, literally made me fall over.
“I was like, No, this isn't gonna work. Let's have a rethink.”
Now Kimberley has been able to text her pal Stacey Dooley, who was revealed to be Prawn Cocktail earlier in the series.
And she’s shared their top tips for guessing who’s behind the mask.
Kimberley explained: “You do group dances and when I came out, I text Stacey and said ‘Oh, I knew that I liked you’
“She was like, ‘yeah I knew there was good vibes from Odd Socks!’
“You do kind of get an energy from people even with the masks on.
“So I think that for viewers at home, I think there are a lot of clues there.
“But it's just like picking out the right ones. I think there's lots of clues that are leading you in the right direction, but there's also quite a lot that are trying to throw you off.
“So you need to latch on to the right one.”
- Watch Onomatopoeia, Pearly King and Scissors in The Masked Dancer final this Saturday at 6.30pm on ITV.
Clue up on tips
GUESSING the Masked Dancers is far trickier for viewers than spotting their Singer counterparts.
Even Denise Lewis, who was unmasked as Sea Slug on Saturday, reckons ITV needs to rethink the clues.
The Olympic champ said: “I can only look at the clues for myself. And they were really hard.
“My family and friends had not a Scooby Doo!
“You’ve probably just got to think more laterally.”
Just Onomatopoeia, Scissors and Pearly King head into Saturday’s final.
Davina's battle
DAVINA McCALL has revealed she had to fight for her role on The Masked Singer panel – and feared she’d been overlooked due to her age.
The telly legend says ITV boss Kevin Lygo asked her to take part as a contestant but she refused.
Chatting at Good Housekeeping Live, Davina recalled: “He said ‘We have got a presenter for it.’ So I said ‘I can be on the panel’ and he went ‘OK. I’ll think about that’ and a week later I got the call.”
PRESENTER Alan Yentob will feature Britain’s best loved writers in a new series of Imagine… for BBC1.
In one film, he follows former Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman as she prepares to release her autobiography and opens up about her past.
The series begins on October 31.
Queen put Phil in his place
WHEN Phillip Schofield seemed to jump the queue to see The Queen lying in state, it stirred many an emotion.
But for his former This Morning co-host, Fern Britton, it was a reminder of another time Phil was in the presence of the late monarch.
Chatting at Good Housekeeping Live in central London, Fern recalled when they met Her Majesty at ITV’s 50th anniversary gala at the city’s Guildhall in 2005.
She said: “I was standing next to Phil in the line when the Queen came along.
“Phil had met her the week before at an event in Henley. So he went, bigging himself up, ‘Hello’ and she just went ‘Hmm’.”
It wasn’t just Phil who left The Queen unimpressed.
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Fern went on: “She then turned to Ant and Dec and said to them ‘Do you work behind the camera?’”
Liz clearly didn’t care for showbiz royalty.