Mel B reveals which Spice Girl would be eliminated from The Masked Singer

As a once-contestant on The Masked Singer, Mel B believes she would be able to guess one Spice Girl’s tone from “a mile off.”

Three new judges, 10 costumed contestants, a few special guests and hundreds of wrong guesses (we’re looking at you, Dave Hughes) – The Masked Singer Australia returns for a fourth season, bringing with it a colourful array of celebrities belting out ballads behind creative get-ups that may, or may not, provide clues as to who’s inside. Joining Hughes are reality star Abbie Chatfield, radio personality Chrissie Swan and Spice Girl Mel B, who tells The Binge Guide she’s done her homework on Australian talent: “I have my dossier.”

When it comes to guessing which celebrity is hiding behind each get-up, Melanie “Mel B” Brown reckons she has an edge over the rest of The Masked Singer Australia panel.

Not only has the Spice Girl well and truly done the rounds of Aussie talent shows –

she was a judge on Australia’s Got Talent and The X Factor Australia, plus a co-host on Dancing With the Stars – she also knows what it’s like to perform underneath one

of those elaborate costumes.

In 2021, she was unmasked as “Seahorse” in the UK version of the show before going incognito as “Medusa” in Spain.

Because of these experiences, Brown tells The Binge Guide with much relish, “I can recognise singing voices and can tell if they are trying to hide it, too, because that is exactly what I did when I did The Masked Singer as the seahorse.”

The only Spice Girl to have been a contestant on the series so far, Brown jokes that if any of her former bandmates were to appear in disguise this season in Australia, the easiest one to recognise would be Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice, “because I’d be able to tell those dulcet tones a mile off,” she says before cackling with laughter.

Unlike US actress Lindsey Lohan, who struggled during her first and only season due to her obvious lack of familiarity with Australian celebrities, Brown has spent many years rubbing shoulders with local actors, musicians and reality stars.

Even so, she’s done her research. “Well, I have my dossier because I have met so many Australian people and Australian icons,” she explains.

“I had to brush up on my knowledge as to remember if they’re actually still living, still current, [or] they haven’t done anything bad or abusive to anybody else because I am not going to mention those people.”

Mel B, with Dave Hughes, Abbie Chatfield and Chrissie Swan for the 2022 season of The Masked Singer.

Her fellow judge, comedian Dave Hughes – who is the only member of the original 2019 panel remaining – certainly doesn’t have the same qualms, proudly boasting, “I mainly guess dead people!”

Across three seasons, Hughes has gained a reputation for outlandish and improbable guesses, throwing out names like former PM Julia Gillard and LaToya Jackson.

That’s probably why Brown and his other new co-stars, Abbie Chatfield and Chrissie Swan, have avoided following any of his advice.

“He has passed on many tips,” radio host and TV personality Swan says with a laugh. “And we have taken on board not one of them.”

A fan of the show who has watched every season with her three kids, Swan concedes, “I think it’s much easier at home. The voices sound different on telly than they do in the studio, and often I am just enjoying the live vibe so much that I often forget that I have a job to do.”

Host Osher Günsberg says Swan has always been the best amateur player of the game but was understandably finding it trickier now that she’s in the studio being “sung to by a 2m-tall thong with a permanent smile on its face”.

Günsberg says he has occasionally been able to guess the masked celebrity after being close to them on stage, but for the most part, his strike rate is about on par with Hughes.

Of all the reveals over the years, British football hard-man Vinnie Jones as last year’s “Volcano” was the most “mind blowing”, Günsberg admits, adding, “He did two weeks in hotel isolation to do one night on our show.

“Speaking to him afterwards, he was actually thrilled about it because they’d booked him for the full duration of the production. He said, ‘It’s no problem, mate. I’m off to play golf for a few weeks.’”

Mel B stars on the cover of this Sunday’s issue of The Binge Guide

Chatfield says most of the fun is in the anticipation. The social media personality, who got her TV start on The Bachelor in 2019, concedes she often marvels at how far she has come in such a short space of time.

“I’m so lucky to have had the opportunities that I have had,” she says.

“And I don’t think I would have believed you if you told me a year ago [that] I would be sat next to a Spice Girl, Hughesy and the incredible Chrissie Swan for work every day.”

The Masked Singer premieres at 7.30pm

on Sunday, August 7 on Network 10.

Originally published as Mel B reveals which Spice Girl would be eliminated from The Masked Singer