Alfie Boe hilariously revealed he thought Jason Manford was a "s**t singer" after the comedian's debut on The Masked Singer.
Jason, who was disguised as Hedgehog on the top secret singing competition, came second place in last night's long-awaited final.
The Mancunian comedian, 38, legally had to keep his identity under cover for weeks after signing an NDA agreement, which meant he couldn't tell even the closest of friends about his stint on the ITV show.
Jason presents a weekend show on Absolute Radio, where he admitted that good pal Alfie Boe accidentally told him he was "s**t at singing" after he told Jason that fans suspected he was Hedgehog.
Speaking on his show, Jason revealed: "In the week beforehand, I rang Alfie Boe about something else. We've been friends for years. I asked him if he'd been watching The Masked Singer, because I keep getting people messaging to ask if I'm the hedgehog.
"He said, 'Me too! … so I had to watch it on Saturday night and I thought to myself, I'm not that s**t at singing!' and I just had to pretend on the phone. I was like, 'Yeah me too, mate, me too!'"
The comedian also revealed it "was like MI5 stuff" keeping his identity under wraps during the show.
"It was like MI5 stuff. I recorded it last September while I was in rehearsing for 'Curtains', the show I'm on tour with at the moment.
"They would pick us up, drive us to this hanger in the middle of, I don't even know where it was, about an hour away from London.
"Then about 20 minutes out of the studio, you had to put on a hoodie that said, 'Don't speak to me' on the front – which I've kept and I'm having for the train – you had to wear a balaclava, gloves, a visor and then when you got there, nobody spoke to you.
"There were about four people in the whole production who actually knew who you were… I didn't even know who else were the other contestants."
Jason's identity could have been accidentally unveiled on Good Morning Britain at the end of January.
Fans of the bizarre new singing show became convinced that Hedgehog's posh accent was being faked and many viewers speculated Jason was the man behind the mask.
Appearing on GMB, he addressed rumours that he was taking part in the ITV show.
After revealing that his new quiz show, First & Last, had been rescheduled to make way for the Masked Singer, Ben Shephard and Kate Garraway probed him on the rumours.
Kate asked him: "Have you moved the time because you're defeating yourself?"
"I don't want to spoil the show by saying no but - no," he laughingly replied.
"My own kids asked me as well!"
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