A producer on The Masked Singer has confirmed that Rita Ora will return to the judging panel for the third series.
The 30-year-old was replaced on the panel by Oti Mabuse for spinoff show The Masked Dancer - airing all this week on ITV - with fellow judges Jonathan Ross, Mo Gilligan and Davina McCall all returning.
The move to drop Ora was rumoured to be due to her widely-criticised breach of coronavirus lockdown rules last autumn, which saw her throw a clandestine birthday party for herself and around 30 friends at a London restaurant.
Show producer Derek McLean has denied that the incident led to her being dropped, however, telling the Daily Star: "The key thing everyone just needs to understand is Rita was not available for The Masked Dancer because she was filming in Australia and the thing she does on The Masked Singer is be the voice expert.
"She is the one everyone turns to and says, 'Do you know who this is?' and 'Can you tell who that voice is?'"
The third series of the show is due to be filmed this autumn for broadcast on ITV early next year.
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