The Masked Singer: Who is Maypole? All the clues so far

Everything we know about the mystery character

The Masked Singer, ITV’s fever-dream competition series that has the nation chanting “take it off!”, is in full flow.

Joel Dommett is on hosting duties, with super sleuths Davina McCall, Rita Ora, Jonathan Ross and Mo Gilligan in the detective chairs to guess which celebrities are behind the costumes.

This year’s contestants are hoping to join the previous Masked Singer UK winners, which include Nicola Roberts, Joss Stone, Natalie Imbruglia and Charlie Simpson.

One of the hopefuls is in disguise as Maypole – here’s what we know about them so far…

In an ITV press pack released ahead of the series, Maypole said: “Keeping it secret actually hasn’t been that hard for me. I’ve decided to just hide in plain sight!”

During week one of the singing show, Maypole’s introductory message left judges scratching their heads.

Davina McCall guessed it was singer Anne Marie, since she had a great singing voice and because a compass in the video tape segment was pointing south west (Marie is from Tilbury in Essex).

Meanwhile, guest judge Charlie Simpon thought that because Maypole said the words: “I know my net worth” and “I’ve skipped around the court,” that the celebrity behind the mask could be tennis player Emma Raducanu.

Jonathan Ross made a guess that it is former Prime Minister Theresa May, since Maypole has “May” in her name and was pictured running through fields of wheat in the VT – something May said was the naughtiest thing she ever did as a child. Mo Gilligan guessed that it could be singer Rita Ora, the only panel member who was not present on the judges table.

Maypole (ITV)

During the Riddle Me This segment, Maypole said: “The audience are watching, so I’ll give it the sell, it’s something I’ve learnt since the year of Orwell.”

The judges seemed even more confused, noting that the date often associated with George Orwell is 1984, the title of his best-selling eponymous novel.

During her second performance on Saturday (13 January), Maypole performed the 2012 hit song “Crash” by Emeli Sandé with the judges praising her brilliant vocals, leading them to believe she is a singer.

Prior to that, Maypole dropped plenty of clues in her video package, which was shot in a field.

She revealed that she was “here to lead us on a merry dance” and has “more than one ribbon to my bow”. She’s “a model Maypole”.

In the VT, we saw a doll perched on a chair with a silver medal around their neck, and a weather vane pointing in the direction of south-west.

“Mayday, mayday. The panel’s guesses have got me in a spin. Well, they are all going in one direction,” she said.

“I can stand rain and shine. You have to be resilient to survive this island,” she said, leading one judge to guess that she could be a Love Island contestant – something further hinted at by the gold heart depicted in the video.

Maypole also said: “This ain’t my first rodeo.”

Elsewhere in the clip, there were three flower pots with labels reading “Glasgow, Manchester, Shangai”, as well as an envelope stamped “Return to sender” – leading Jonathan Ross to link Maypole with Elvis Presley who released his song “Return to Sender” in 1962.

“Finding a perfect match is easy when you’re made of wood,” she said. Well, sometimes it is. Oh well. I almost chose a different field that was poles apart.”

In another remark, she said: “But this habit is hard to break. Time to go for another whirl.”

The Victoria Sponge cake pictured in the video also led to guesses that Maypole could be related to The Great British Bake-Off.

Olly Murs, who was judging in Rita Ora’s absence, guessed that Maypole is Cheryl Cole oweing to a One Direction clue. Murs explained that she and the boyband had been on X-Factor at the same time.

Last year, Charlie Simpson was crowned as the winner of The Masked Singer UK.

The Busted star, who performed secretly as Rhino throughout the competition, rose to fame with the boyband behind the hits “Year 3000” and “Crashed The Wedding”.

In the finale, he beat Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson, who was disguised as Phoenix.

The Masked Singer airs on ITV on Saturday nights, with the final expected to take place in February.