Sophie Ellis-Bextor says giveaway moment was cut from The Masked Singer

Sophie Ellis-Bextor revealed three The Masked Singer judges correctly guessed she was Alien thanks to her distinctive voice, but it was cut from the show.

The Masked Singer, which originated in South Korea, involves famous contestants performing in front of celebrity judges who have to look beyond the wacky costumes to name the star on stage.

Ellis-Bextor was the first celebrity unmasked when the show returned to ITV on Saturday. She performed Dua Lipa’s Don’t Start Now.

Ellis-Bextor, best-known for the song Murder On The Dancefloor, joked she tried to disguise her accent but was still found out by a majority of the judges. The panel includes Mo Gilligan, Davina McCall, Rita Ora and Jonathan Ross.

She said: “They didn’t put it in the edit but actually three of the judges said my name as well on the day. So I already knew I’d been rumbled very quickly.”

Ellis-Bextor added: “I suppose it’s a compliment, the fact that as soon as I opened my mouth, even just as the Alien, my one year old, I literally don’t know how he did this, pointed at the telly and said ‘mummy’.

“And then Richard, my husband, was watching on Twitter and was like ‘Yeah, everybody is saying it’s you’.

“My kids found it absolutely hilarious that I put on such a weird accent. They were like, ‘Why on earth did you do that?’”

Ellis-Bextor, 41, described The Masked Singer as an “extreme, trippy version” of karaoke. The US version proved to be wildly popular and attracted stars including LeAnn Rimes, Donny Osmond and Gladys Knight.

Ellis-Bextor said the quirky nature of the show was a big draw for her.

“I liked the game, I liked the silliness of it, I liked the daftness,” she said. “I don’t know if you’ve looked but internationally you get some amazing people taking part in this programme and that really appealed to me because if you’re a singer you’re not going to do a programme where it’s about serious singing, that’s really off-putting.

“So it’s something that’s much more playful and daft and quite childlike, really. Putting on a massive costume, you just can’t take yourself seriously if you look in the mirror and there’s an alien staring back at you.”