Maya Jama shuts down claims she ‘spoiled’ The Masked Singer

Maya Jama has fired back at claims she ‘leaked’ a major reveal in The Masked Singer UK’s first episode of 2025.

The Love Island host, 30, joins the panel this series, sitting alongside Davina McCall, Jonathan Ross, and Mo Gilligan.

Maya replaces long-time panellist Rita Ora, who announced last year that she would be stepping down to focus on her duties on the show’s American version.

Ahead of the new series launch, Maya took to Instagram to express her excitement over the new role—but eagle-eyed fans believed the post contained a spoiler.

In her slew of snaps, Maya shared a selfie with Olympian Sir Mo Farah, who, earlier on tonight, was also unmasked as Giant Joel, a caricature of host Joel Dommett whose identity was first teased during the Christmas special.

Mo also sat on the panel tonight as a guest judge, helping to suss out the clues.

Commenting underneath Maya’s post, one follower accused her of ruining the reveal hours before the broadcast; masked_singeruk6 wrote: ‘MAYA U LEAKED IT….’

Quick to set the record straight, Maya replied: ‘I didn’t 😂 Mo is a panelist episode 1 honey it’s google-able [sic].

Referencing Maya and Sir Mo’s pic together, maskedoli also commented: ‘The 6th one… you may wish to delete that’.

‘Mo is a guest panelist episode 1 it’s not a secret x’, Maya replied.

Responding, the follower added: ‘yes but *why* is mo a guest judge episode 1…’

After keeping audiences in suspense, Olympic legend Sir Mo Farah was unveiled underneath the Giant Joel costume tonight, which, of course, included a vibrant pink suit and perfect quiff.

Davina and Maya had incorrectly guessed that Geordie duo Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly were behind Giant Joel, who sang Lionel Richie’s Hello.

Following the shock twist, the running legend said of his time on the show: ‘It’s been incredible.’

Amid Maya’s debut on the panel, viewers were keen to heap praise on her, with several praising her detective skills and likening them to those of Wagatha Christie, aka Coleen Rooney.

NeilMil02506970 wrote on X: ‘Masked Singer is great but it’s just got better now Maya is on it’.

JasonMUFC85 also tweeted: I love the combination of @MayaJama and @ThisisDavina on @MaskedSingerUK’.

There was major hype surrounding Maya’s panel debut, with presenter Joel admitting the one mistake he made when cameras weren’t rolling.

Speaking recently to The Sun, the host said he felt ‘really bad’ after failing to keep himself in the loop with pop culture gossip, including her recent breakup.

‘I remember, during the recording, I kept on singing a Stormzy song, and then I felt really bad about it.