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Entertainment
Simon Duke

The Masked Singer's Justin Hawkins sparks sexism row over Rita Ora comments

It's the show that has had everyone talking but now The Masked Singer has found itself at the centre of a shock sexism row over comments made to a contestant.

Whether they liked it or not, plenty of people were talking about the bizarre new singing show when it made its debut last week, with it quickly nabbing the top trend spot on Twitter.

If you haven't watched it yet, ex-I'm A Celebrity finalist Joel Dommett leads the show as host of the surreal and surprising guessing game that sees 12 famous faces compete to pull off the best performance, with their identity elaborately and imaginatively concealed behind costumes including a Bee, Tree, Chameleon and even an Octopus

It's the job of panelists TV presenter Jonathan Ross; chart-topping singer Rita Ora; TV favourite Davina McCall and Hollywood actor and comedian, Ken Jeong to try and work out who the famous faces are behind the masks.

And it's Rita Ora's comments to Chameleon, who was unmasked as The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins at the end of Saturday night's episode.

After both of his performances, Rita flirted up a storm with Justin, telling him she's dreamt about him. And speaking about his time on the show Justin, the voice of huge hits like I Believe In A Thing Called Love and Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End), said he thought her remarks were a bit near to the mark.

The 44-year-old said: “Not sure if some of the remarks would be allowed if I were a female contestant, so I think we’re a little way off equality."

Rita admitted she had “checked out” the star, with Jonathan adding he could “see everything”.

Justin added that he’d “enjoyed the attention”, but that his skintight Lycra made him “feel a little exposed in key areas”.

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