COMEDIAN and actor John Thomson is best known for Cold Feet but it turns out his body gets very, very hot.
The Fast Show star became the latest celeb to be revealed on Saturday night’s The Masked Singer.
But John, who performed on the ITV prime-time show as Bush Baby, said he had to resort to strapping ice packs to his body in order to keep cool in his elaborate costume.
He said: “It’s boiling, it’s absolutely unbearable. And I watched the ITV2 show, you know, behind the mask, and the guy went, ‘Oh, the Bush Baby’s the hottest costume’.
“I had to have ice packs strapped to my wrists and one at the back of my neck, because it was just insane. It was unbearable – the heat and also the total sensory deprivation.
“Because you’ve got moulded earpieces – like professional singer stuff – you have monitors in your ears and so when they’re in and there’s no backing tracks playing, you’re deaf.”
The actor added: “So you’re deaf, blind and no one can hear you.”
In an effort to disguise his Mancunian brogue and keep viewers guessing, John put on an Australian accent every time he had to speak on the show.
While some armchair sleuths claimed that the accent needed work, the actor was happy he put on the Aussie disguise.
He added: “I think the Aussie thing was a good choice, really, because people were saying it was Jason Donovan and John Torode.
“And then other people went, ‘Oh, his Aussie accent’s weird. It’s not right’. And I’d like to think it was alright – it’s the one thing I pride myself on, my accents.”
Crucially, John dropped the accent when he had to sing – pointing out that Antipodean pop legend Kylie Minogue does the same thing.
He added that he could only take his Australian act so far, saying: “It’s The Masked Singer, I’m not a fully immersed method actor!”
I think your performances were marvellous, John.
