The Masked Singer star opens up about leading 'double life' saying 'nobody knew'

Samantha Barks, fresh from her triumphant victory on The Masked Singer earlier in February, opened up about the thrill of competing on the hit ITV show during Monday's episode of Good Morning Britain.

Chatting with hosts Ed Balls and Susanna Reid, she enthusiastically expressed: "It was amazing and just begin a part of it, I loved getting to perform in the Pufferfish. I wasn't performing as me so it was really fun to just be a completely different character and Pufferfish was so much fun. You get really into it!"

Ed Balls spoke about another contestant, describing Kate Garraway’s experience as Spag Bol and the extreme secrecy involved.

He recounted: "She said that when you're on the show, there's such secrecy, and you're always in this costume, that it's a huge relief to finally take the head off or whatever and show that it's you."

Samantha confirmed this, speaking about the efforts to keep their identities under wraps: "Nobody in my life knew! I wanted the surprise."

She revealed her sister was her prime motivation for maintaining secrecy, adding: "I did it for my sister. I really wanted her to watch it and have no idea, and she didn't."

However, she admitted to Ed that as the weeks passed, her sister started catching on to the truth, reports The Mirror.

Samantha's niece was completely in the dark about her aunt's participation in the show and was overjoyed to discover that Samantha was behind Pufferfish.

Samantha confessed: "I just lived a double life! People said, 'What are you up to?' because it was right when I'd finished Frozen."

She continued: "They were asking, 'What are you doing?' I would say, 'Nothing, just relaxing,' and they'd say that was nice because I don't normally relax.

"Then it turns out I was living this double life the whole time, I was a fish the whole time!"

Samantha emerged victorious on the ITV show early in February, competing against Dressed Crab and Wolf, who were later revealed to be Marti Pellow and Gregory Porter respectively.

Reflecting on her victory with host Joel Dommett, Samantha shared: "For me, because I've played Elsa (on the West End) for three years, it's been so fun to just do lots of different stuff.

She added: "Every week, I've wanted to do a new kind of style, a new kind of song, and that was really fun. Also, I feel like I've lived this double life, I've had this crazy experience but nobody in my life knows this. So I love it. It's so secretive."

The Masked Singer is available to watch on ITVX with Good Morning Britain continuing weekdays on ITV from 6am.