Judges Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall, Mo Gilligan and Maya Jama were left stunned and surprised before host Joel Dommett announced she would return to the stage. She then took off her headpiece and revealed herself as Macy Gray to the applause and delight of the audience and judges.

Though she received high praise from Jama as an “idol and an icon”, and “amazing” by Davina, she still seemed quite reserved and unimpressed, giving one-word answers to the compliments and questions.

A source for the Sun has suggested that the ‘I Try’ songstress was “blindsided” by her early elimination, saying that she felt “gutted to be out so early because she really enjoyed being on the American version – when obviously she did brilliantly – so was totally blindsided.”

The insider added: “It was the shock of it for her as well as the upset and in that moment, she had a very raw, human reaction and wanted out. For a professional performer to reach that point shows how badly she felt.”

She’s previously appeared on the Australian version of The Masked Singer in 2021, as the character Atlantis, and in the American version in 2023 as Sea Queen.

The panel had suggested earlier in the show that Gray was the musician behind the mask, after singing a rendition of Boney M’s ‘Sunny’. Mo Gilligan also suspected that it might be American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman beneath the Toad costume.

Since the walkout, judge Maya Jama has shared a clip of Gray’s exit on Instagram, jokingly writing that it’s “Me at any minor inconvenience”.

Host Joel Dommett also commented on the incident during an interview on BBC Radio 2 with Paddy McGuiness, offering a more optimistic take on the singers exit: “If you’re a great singer and you make it through then that’s absolutely wonderful, but sometimes, like the case with Macy Gray, she has such a recognisable voice and she’s a legend so you immediately know who it is.”

“So it’s kind of one of those where we all know who it is, she might as well go and then the other person can go through as we don’t quite know who they are. So the guessing game continues.”

Dommett added: “The funny thing is, I think it’s a win-win scenario on that game – whether you go through to the final it’s a win as you’re winning it. But also if you go home early it’s a win because you get to go early and you get the same money.”

The show’s latest series premiered last Saturday (January 4), with six contestants in the running. Two other celebrities have been revealed as masked vocalists so far – Spag Bol was identified as Good Morning Britain‘s Kate Garraway after performing Geri Halliwell‘s ‘Look At Me’. Pegasus was also revealed to be Great British Bake Off‘s Prue Leith, who sang ‘Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin” from the musical Oklahoma!

The Masked singer airs on ITV and ITVX – you can watch all previous episodes here.

Corgan and Reznor are the latest acts set to play the Bowie birthday-show; among the long line-up are big names including actor Gary Oldman as well as musicians such as Gavin Rossdale, Macy Gray, Judith Hill, Perry Farrell and many more. The musicians will each give their own rendition of one or more of the songs off Bowie’s extensive discography and it is expected they will bring unique and genre-spanning covers to the live-show.

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A post shared by David Bowie (@davidbowie) on Oct 27, 2020 at 7:38am PDT

The event will take place near the 5th anniversary of Bowie’s death and will follow the new-release of the album Metrobolist which is set to be released next month. This year, previously unreleased live-show recordings and re-cut songs, such as The Man Who Sold The World, have been given to fans and even last month saw a limited edition of the 1975 album Young Americans. 

Bowie has had great success from posthumous releases including winning multiple Grammys, selling over 5 million records in just the 2 years following his death and being named Rolling Stone’s ‘Greatest Rock Star Ever’. This upcoming live-stream concert will pay tribute to fallen star with collaborations and arrangements of his music spanning all the decades of his career.

Producers of the live-stream event include Kerry Brown, Stacey Sher and Bowie’s long-time producer Tony Visconti, and they are calling it ‘A Bowie Celebration: Just for one day!’. Past band-members and old collaborators are banning together in an alumni fashion to play as one in honour of Bowie.

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A post shared by David Bowie (@davidbowie) on Aug 6, 2020 at 10:03am PDT

This all-star band will include players such as the main band-members from his last touring act and other musicians including Carlos Alomar, Zack Alford, Alan Childs, Kevin Armstrong, Emm Gryner, Omar Hakim, Robin Clark, Clare Hirst, Tim Lefebvre, Erdal Kızılçay, Martha Mooke, Mark Plati, Holly Palmer, Charlie Sexton and Carmine Rojas.

Spanning the end of 2020 and into 2021 a collection of 6 live and unreleased albums from the years 1995 to 1999 will be available in a limited CD and vinyl form. This collection will be called Brilliant Live Adventures and will follow the release of the upcoming album Metrobolist.

Tickets for the Bowie livestream birthday celebration concert are available here and the early-bird pricing is at 20USD (15 GBP). All shows from the ‘Bowie Celebration Tour’ that was set to go off next year have been cancelled due to safety concerns surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic.